eters eceys poe 7s, ; ‘ r 
in peti eles Seen by chats aia RTEeee eae OSI UTA Pee ae tt da ehe th Fee ees 
pistes seeeee PMO OTE EOE TEER ETE E OHSS EHTE AR OE EE we FERESE TR ore ye UF SEE TP ve ret 


behbh4 ET iaadnbikedyrephibqidine bp siaead Dkdt ibis 


remy. : ate 8 i erserters » ete. . ¥ ’ 43 
cei esies spate an Eras setae rarer tectes eters eter 
. E preset Ht risa neabes 
apte t . aE wee Pe oe 2868 be 
{RFCS SRE TL AL SeR Sb SSe TENE Se FhE =e 3 ee & vt 43 wee ree - pee rt " pes 4 : 
ARETE RARER IR DE NSS = 1 bbe ' Z, 3 e: ; 4 ri 


ere. 4 

. - eeehe 
oer <3 vt 4 
precoreesczs Sittae prnaserasnges paentyes 


faeces 
<4 : 


‘ 


pees 


seegetn Fee 


EE 


gasses 


isos! 


18 


at et seat S 


eye? 


iat saree 


petaagaia3 


ee Heat ‘ eateee a 
cataLet ° 2: Mead 
t+ ry 

258) 

ee ks 


T+te 


rt "3 ret : : 4 


a 


Aa 


ME Th ith 


pete 


> rest TeeTeT ths 3 € 3 bayersgtt ses: 4 ve . : dean thats : Sree 
Pic +} Shag ities v4 i : ey : leet ies ; det pee ts 
gagreres : ; ene ‘ ; 0 + f ; : reshpeeres 
eeataet Meth ¢ eeeeat ; +f rh Z ve joesee ; +} - 
is sHielt : : aves 
+ 
iad 7 
+ 
re 


3 
Pd 
4 


Ft 


t 
i : 
tit jh 
oi 
a 


+3 
Piestsaas: 


Pepsi Nest 


phase rules e285 es $ “ ped + +4 at 


‘1% 
See E DD 
4 Vee 
stiteeetty 


i 
peeerer ar ueats 


tyh 


naeebert stibertiee: 
+ tT * 
etal phevest 











aes 
JAN 22 i429 


We, 
SUL ony A 





| 7 iA sat 
Division ee B 6 ¢ J 
Section e G 4. 6 


iy oN RS) } 
‘ Vite i iy 





Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2022 with funding from 
Princeton Theological Seminary Library 


httos://archive.org/details/principlesofeducOOchap 


RIVERSIDE TEXTBOOKS 
IN EDUCATION 


EDITED BY ELLWQOD P. CUBBERLEY 
PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION AND 
DEAN OF THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION 
STANFORD UNIVERSITY 


Greeting his pupils, the master asked: 
What would you learn of me? 

And the reply came: 
How shall we care -for our bodies ? 
How shall we rear our children? 
How shall we work together ? 
How shall we live with our fellowmen? 
How shall we play ? 
For what ends shall we live? ... 


And the teacher pondered these words, 
and sorrow was in his heart, for his own 
learning touched not these things. 


PRINCIPLES OF 
EDUCATIO 


J. CROSBY CHAPMAN \Z 


B.A. (Cantab.), D.Sc. (London), Ph.D. (Columbia) 
Late Professor of Educational Psychology 
Yale University 








N AY 
Xt a hl 4 


AO 
“ 
JAN 22 192! 


Pw 


A 


“OLog 







? 


GEORGE 5. COUNTS 
Ph.D. (Chicago) 
Professor of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, and 
Associate Director of the International Institute 





Riverside 


HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 


BOSTON - NEW YORK - CHICAGO - DALLAS : SAN FRANCISCO 
The Riverside Press Cambridge 


COPYRIGHT, 1924 
BY J. CROSBY CHAPMAN AND GEORGE S. COUNTS 


ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 


The Riverside Press 
CAMBRIDGE - MASSACHUSETTS 
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. 


TO 


CHARLES H. JUDD 
EDWARD L. THORNDIKE 


hia si a he bie tel Ne el 
(5 SS 8 


in or Vis " 


AAs TR: 


. ~ 
Silat. 
mt)? 
a 
‘A 


ian 





EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION 


WITHIN recent years, the demand of students in education in 
colleges and universities has seemed, more than ever before, 
to be for practical rather than for theoretical courses. This 
tendency is in keeping with the new demands in other fields 
of study, and indicates a healthy interest in concrete mate- 
rials and in training that gives the ability to do. While this 
is very good and very encouraging, and indicates a desirable 
change in education itself from a philosophy about instruc- 
tion to professional preparation for an important phase of so- 
cial engineering, there is danger that those in training to-day 
may grow up and pass out of our training institutions with- 
out gaining that sound grounding in the philosophy of the 
educative process which has been the great strength of the 
older generation of professional educators. Say all we may 
in favor of the newer engineering-type courses of instruction 
in education, and there is much to be said for them, the fact 
remains that one of the most important duties of the young 
teacher or student is gradually to formulate, for himself, a 
sound working philosophy of the educative process. Such a 
philosophy will guide him in his future work and vitalize all 
his later procedure. 

While the importance of practical courses in his training 
cannot be gainsaid, he must still somewhere be led to see 
how education itself has slowly evolved, until it stands to- 
day as the most important creative institution of the State; 
the institution whereby its citizens anticipate and solve the 
problems of national welfare. To meet this specific need in 
his training there is nothing that can take the place of a good 
course in the history of our educational evolution. He must 
also be led to seize intelligent hold on the conception that ed- 


Viil EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION 


ucation stands for the higher evolution of both the individual 
and the race, and that, after all, the details of organization 
and administration and supervision must be relegated to 
their proper places in the scheme of human training. For 
this second need there is no substitute for a good course in 
the principles or philosophy of education. Without a uni- 
fied view of the whole educative process, and such a guiding 
conception as to purpose and plan, administrative work 
soon becomes dull and fruitless routine and the worker fails 
to reach the higher levels of professional service. 

To meet this second need for a course on the philosophy of 
the educative process the present volume in this series of text- 
books has been prepared. As the quotation opposite the 
Title-Page indicates, its viewpoint is thoroughly modern. 
Discarding the old philosophical conceptions and terminol- 
ogy, the two authors have based their work firmly on the 
conceptions of modern biology and psychology and the’ 
changing needs of an economic and industrial civilization. 
They have thus built up for us a philosophy of the educative 
process centered about the desirability of knowledge under 
conditions of modern civilization concerning the six funda- 
mental life-needs — health, family life, economic adjust- 
ment, civic life, recreation, and religion — and then have 
applied the results of the study to the organization and 
work of the different divisions of the school. 

For the writing of such a book the authors have had an 
especially good preparation. ‘Their education and train- 
ing — one brought up in the best schools of England, and 
one in the public schools and colleges of the Middle West in 
the United States; one finishing his training in the atmos- 
phere of Columbia, and the other in the atmosphere of Chi- 
cago — have given each quite a different background for an 
educational philosophy, and have served to make their joint 
production much more than a reflection of a local point of 


EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 1X 


view or of a single school of thought. Still more, the book, 
from beginning to end, is a thoroughly joint product, and as 
such free from the usual demerits of joint work. The book 
was outlined together and each section roughly sketched; it 
was used for a time in classes at Yale, and then so written 
and criticized and combined by both men that practically 
every page reflects the point of view of the two authors. 
That the work has been well done the arrangement and style 
of the book reveals, for the text is interesting throughout, 
and at times the style rises to unusual levels in clearness and 
charm and force of expression. 

The methodology of the book, from the instructor’s point 
of view, is especially good. Having been written in and 
around a series of fundamental educational problems, the ar- 
rangement of the text is such as to give material aid to the 
teacher. The additional problems for discussion, which close 
each chapter, have been carefully thought out and organized 
to enable the teacher to carry forward the discussion of prin- 
ciples laid down in the chapter. Often the questions are 
those raised by the authors’ own students, and as.an out- 
growth of group thinking on the problems under considera- 
tion. In consequence these supplemental problems have 
been more carefully selected and formulated than would be 
the case with questions which the instructor ordinarily 
would raise. Ina way they are questions which the authors 
themselves would like to have dealt with in the text, had 
there been time and space for their consideration. 

In the form as presented it is believed that this book on 
the Principles of Education offers a thoroughly modern phi- 
losophy of the educative process, and that this, coupled with 
its readable style and good teaching organization, serves to 
make it an important textbook for use in colleges and univer- 
sities giving courses in the Principles of Education. 

ExLiwoop P. CuBBERLEY 









Ay a’ 


a. scene 
ete. f | 


LAP AS 
My he 












py Peis 
oat We 


ooh qe rt ful 
; on “i oan at ara Re, a ROed 
ety be ese: Ay) ey ra Hake) Th, isthe 
“a ned ii iis Rowers! Sie ay 


-* 


fe ; y 
rs e.e ty yer bl 4 wh tie 





MPO otc 2a ee is ‘i 
| bi ie re, et aa vehe Deeg ie , 
Fe Sn ae ie Mite bh ailing 
i btn hi oy godeotiam 
i Mas Ai: ae est ud ee awplahol She 
¥ Ns Wu} Ave Ay en ul pl “a age 
| in ; Ve Koes 






he 
wth Lr gitin 
























m sie ie ct we ae ne Seas WTR PS ae 

A eoll hairs tii angel spent iia sie 
SPINE shel aK .) eau! bia hi < eae Hy 
| te ip A Ore Were Ui ale Hat 
Me akan inh Ke Cease Me 
aa Pee ah vs? a ye bal ye! ik 

ey é ‘ANC: sR ae 
en ou A iain ms eee pet 
ti Hpalaaehaby hapa BUM jie 
.* Ly fal Lee wr <i 

















BOR Fi Lhey meee 
ee Ae a reat 


et 


meen | 






; Pa ? 
Booby i, 


aye 


AUTHORS’ PREFACE 


BrEcavsE of the growing number of specialized professional 
courses given within our colleges and schools of education, 
as the Editor of this series in his introduction suggests, there 
is grave danger lest those who are preparing for teaching 
to-day “‘grow up and pass out of our training institutions 
without gaining that sound grounding in the philosophy of 
education which has been the great strength of the older gen- 
eration of professional educators.” Contrary to the assump- 
tion underlying current practice, the growth of our special- 
ized knowledge has made it more rather than less impera- 
tive that the student be given a systematic view of the 
larger réle played by education. Such a view is obviously 
essential for the general student, and it is equally important 
for the research student. Even though the specialized in- 
vestigator may scorn philosophy, every investigation reflects 
some fundamental philosophical bias, and without the cor- 
rect sense of values which principles of education should fur- 
nish,. valuable energy may easily be dissipated in fruitless 
and meaningless research. 

There is always occasion for a restatement of educational 
philosophy. On account of the rapidity of social change, the 
advance of human thought, and the changing conception of 
the worth of personality, there can be no final formulation. 
Educational aims and values must evolve from generation to 
generation. Though certain human trends are abiding, ob- 
jectives, emphases, and methods must change with changing 
times. As knowledge grows, as ideals expand, and as the 
direction of social evolution veers, a re-synthesis of educa- 
tional experience and knowledge isessential. ‘There is partic- 


xii AUTHOR’S PREFACE 


ular need to-day for varied formulations of a philosophy of 
education — formulations which, in the light of educational 
and psychological research, take into account the develop- 
ment of science, the revolution in industry, the rise of de- 
mocracy, and the integration of the peoples of the world. 
Amidst the numerous subjects of the curriculum, its count- 
less disciplines and varied procedures, amidst the conflicting 
demands made upon the school by rival social forces, amidst 
the ever-shifting winds of educational doctrine, the student 
of education can only lose his way unless the large objective 
of education is clearly revealed to him and kept as a lodestar 
constantly before his eyes. This objective is that of induct- 
ing the child into the life of society and of training him in the 
use of the instrumentalities of civilization. To give to each 
individual, consistent with his capacity, a maximum share 
in the enterprise of furthering health, of promoting family 
membership, of ordering and humanizing industry, of ad- 
vancing the civic interest, of enriching the recreational life, 
and of fostering the religious aspiration — these, we believe, 
are the objectives and touchstones of educational practice. 
Only as a theory of education is guided by such a concep- 
tion of human values and needs can it hope to fulfill its func- 
tion in a democratic society. If those who control thought 
in education and determine its objectives have a sound phi- 
losophy, we may confidently assume that an increasing scien- 
tific control of the methods of education will help the school 
toward its true goal; but, if, owing to a false philosophy of 
education, wrong objectives are set up, scientific procedures 
can only confirm and make us more effective in error. 
Quite apart from the contribution of a philosophy of edu- 
cation to professional training, education as a social study 
must come to occupy a place in the general field of the hu- 
manities. Viewed as a mode of social control and as the 
most powerful force for good or evil in the Great Society, it 


AUTHOR’S PREFACE xill 


becomes the most significant, and at the same time the most 
humanistic, of all the social sciences. In its education we see 
Society attempting to liberate itself from its own folkways, 
we see it seeking to become conscious of its own aims, we see 
it essaying to control the course of its own evolution, we see 
its genuine philosophy brought into the arena of action. 

In such a work as this there is aways danger lest the pa- 
tient and detailed studies which have resulted from the sci- 
entific investigation of educational problems will not be 
given due recognition. The more dignified position which 
education has so recently come to occupy in the academic 
family is largely traceable to the spirit which animates these 
studies. The vast majority of the problems discussed in this 
volume have already been submitted to careful quantitative 
investigation. ‘lo these numerous studies we should have 
liked to make constant reference. But we were compelled 
to recognize that, even though the patience of the reader and 
our own abilities had permitted, such a detailed treatment 
of these experiments would have defeated the purpose of the 
book. We trust, however, that the general undercurrent of 
our thinking reflects both the spirit and the findings of the 
ever-enlarging mass of scientific data which is so rapidly ac- 
cumulating. Since it is impossible to present the experimen- 
tal evidence, and even to consider in any detail the many- 
sided aspects of each problem, we have often been forced to 
simplify the discussion. As a consequence the text often 
savors of dogmatism; but this is the price to be paid for con- 
ciseness and clearness of presentation. 

Our indebtedness to the total stream of thought in social 
and educational philosophy is apparent. In such a wide do- 
main no claim to originality can be made. If at any point 
the web is taken to pieces, threads from various fabrics will 
be found woven into it. The reader familiar with educa- 
tional writings will recognize the more general influences of 


XxiV AUTHOR’S PREFACE 


Plato, Rousseau, Herbart, Spencer, Hall, James, and 
Dewey; and within the psychological field he will note the 
more technical contributions of McDougall, Thorndike, 
Watson, Binet, and Freud. Within the stricter educational 
field we acknowledge the special guidance of Adams, Adam- 
son, Angell, Ayres, Bobbitt, Bode, Bolton, Cattell, Charters, 
Colvin, Cubberley, Garnett, Gesell, Henderson, Holmes, 
Inglis, Judd, Kilpatrick, McMurry, Monroe, Nunn, Parker, 
Snedden, Spaulding, Strayer, Terman, Welton, Whipple, and 
Withers; and within the more general field of social philoso- 
phy we have been influenced by Bryce, Chesterton, Croly, 
Ferrero, Grundtvig, Hobhouse, Lippmann, Robinson, Rus- 
sell, Santayana, Sumner, Tawney, Wallas, Ward, Webb, and 
Wells. 


Many passages are the development of germs whose origin 
we have forgotten, but the more direct and definite obliga- 
tions we have been careful to acknowledge. Where the quo- 
tations are of considerable length and there has been danger 
of trespassing on copyrighted material, formal permission 
for their use has been granted by the author or his publisher. 
For their generosity in allowing us to incorporate their ideas 
clothed in their own language, we tender our thanks, and, we 
feel sure, the thanks of our readers. In spite of our heavy 
obligations to the labors of others, the volume leaves us with 
a keen sense of its imperfections. May we venture the hope 
that the largeness of the aim may in some degree excuse the 
poverty of the performance? 

J, C.C, 
G. 5S. C. 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 


WE are glad to make specific acknowledgment and to ex- 
press our obligation for the use of quotations from the books 
and journals listed below. In each case permission for their 
use has been granted either by the author or by the pub- 
lisher. 

Andreae, Johann Valentin, Christianapolis. Tr. by F. E. 

Held. Oxford University Press. 
Bryce, J., Modern Democracies. The Macmillan Com- 


pany. 

Bryce, J., The American Commonwealth. The Macmillan 
Company. 

Chapman, J. C., Educational Review. Doubleday, Page 
& Company. 


Chapman, J. C., School and Society. The Science Press. 

Coffman, L. D., The Social Composition of the Teaching 
Population. 'Teachers College. 

Counts, G.5., The School Review. University of Chicago 
Press. 

Dewey, J., Human Nature and Conduct. Henry Holt & 
Co. 

Dewey, J., Democracy and Education. The Macmillan 
Company. 

Drake, D., Problems of Religion. Houghton Mifflin Com- 
pany. 

Ferrero, G., Ancient Rome and Modern America. G. P. 
Putnam’s Sons. 

Ferrero, G., Between the Old World and the New. G. P. 
Putnam’s Sons. 

Garnett, J. C. M., Education and World Citizenship. 
Cambridge University Press. 


XVI ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 


Harrison, F., Autobiographic Memoirs. 'The Macmillan 
Company. 

James, W., Principles of Psychology. Henry Holt & Co. 

James, W., Varieties of ee Experience. Longmans, 
Green & Co. 

Lippmann, W., Public Onna Harcourt, Brace & Co. 

McDougall, W., Social Psychology. John W. Luce & Co. 

Martineau, James, Hours of Thought. Longmans, Green 
& Co. 

Parker, Carleton, The Casual Laborer and Other Essays. 
Harcourt, Brace & Co. 

Pruett, L., Psycho-Analytic Review. Nervous and Men- 
tal Disease Publication Co. 

Reisner, E. H. Nationalism and Education since 1789. 
The Macmillan Company. 

Robinson, J. H., and Beard, C. A., AY tee of Modern 
Europe. Ginn & Co. 

Robinson, J. H., The Mind in the Making. MUarper & 
Brothers. 

Robinson, J. H., The New History. The Macmillan 
Company. 

Russell, B., Free Thought and Official Propaganda. B. W. 
Huebsch & Co. 

Russell, B., Proposed Roads to Freedom. Henry Holt & 
Co. 

Spencer, H., Education. D. Appleton & Co. 

Welton, J., Psychology of Education. The Macmillan 
Company. 


In shaping the thought of the book, as well as in preparing 
the manuscript for publication, both Daisy Rogers Chapman 
and Lois Bailey Counts have liberally contributed. For 
this service, as for countless others, we owe them a debt of 
gratitude. dnc; 

G8, 


CONTENTS 


INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL LIFE? 


PART I. WHAT IS THE PLACE OF EDUCATION IN 


PROBLEM 
1. How 1s EpucatTion RELATED TO ADJUSTMENT? 3 
2. WHat PROPERTIES OF THE HuMAN ORGANISM MAKE 
EDUCATION PossIBLE? 13 
8. WHat PropertTIES oF Society Maker EpucatTion 
NECESSARY? 23 
4. Wuy HAs Society EstTaBLISHED THE SCHOOL TO PROMOTE 
EDUCATION? Sif 
PART Il. WHAT ARE THE PSYCHOLOGICAL 
FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATION? 
5: How 1s EpucatTion CONDITIONED BY ORIGINAL NATURE? 55 
6. How1s EpucaTIon CONDITIONED BY Haprr ForMATION? 71 
%. How 1s EpucaTion CONDITIONED BY LANGUAGE? 87 
8. How 1s EpucaTIon CONDITIONED BY REFLECTION? . 99 
9. How pores PErRsonaLity EMERGE THROUGH EDUCATION? 123 
10. How 1s Epucation CONDITIONED BY PROLONGED GUARD- 
IANSHIP? . 155 
11. How 1s Epucation ConpImIrroNED BY INDIVIDUAL Dir- 
FERENCES? . . 174 


XVil CONTENTS 


PART III. WHAT ARE THE SOCIOLOGICAL 
FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATION? 


PROBLEM 
12. How may Epucation FurtHerR HeattH? . . . . 195 


13. How may EpucatTion PRoMOTE THE Famity Lire? . . 212 


14. How may EpucatTion ORDER AND HUMANIZE THE Eco- 
NOMIC: Lrrer eh > Ge ee ee ad 


15. How may Epucation ADVANCE THE Civic Lire? .  . 264 
16. How may Epucation ENRICH THE RECREATIONAL LIFE? 294 


w17. How may Epucation Foster tHE REeticious Lire? . 330 


PART IV. WHA'F PRINCIPLES GOVERN THE 
CONDUCT OF THE SCHOOL? 


18. WHat CoNSTITUTES THE VALUE OF A SCHOOL STUDY Oh 
AGPIVITY af ele ef) ce ee 


19. WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL? . 402 
20. WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL? . 437 
21. WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF THE COLLEGE? . . .. . A479 


22. WHAT Is THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE SCHOOL FOR Vo- 
CATIONAL EDUCATION? . MA ie yikes hee Bed! a ese fs 


23. Wuat Metuops sHouLD CoNTROL THE CONDUCT OF 


INSTRUCTION? ash OS oT ee erent Set) 
24. To WHOM SHOULD Society DELEGATE THE EDUCATIONAL 
FUNCTION? id PO) ey ee cag io Rasy i: 
25. How sHoutp Soctety Support AND Contront Epv- 
CATION Bare tediciic Ceo ite ae Se ans ate a de ns oo 
APPENDIRU Reno c.f eR irae eee a Uae meee 
SUGGESTIONS FOR FurRTHER READING . . . . . 631 


INDESAG evi iiss ke ble. (ay ek ee ee Rain tree 


PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


PART ONE 


WHAT IS THE PLACE OF EDUCATION 
IN INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL LIFE? 


Att living things possess some capacity for adjusting themselves to the 
conditions of existence: through the modification of response, adaptation 
occurs throughout the whole range of life. This process of adaptation is 
education in its widest sense. ‘The scope of education is dependent in 
part on the complexity of the environment, but much more on the capaci- 
ties for learning possessed by the organism. In man the inner desires 
and learning capacities are so great that he has not only adjusted himself 
most intimately to his surroundings, but also has remoulded the world 
nearer to his heart’s desires. So extensive has been the shaping of this 
environment that in the course of ages he has created a most complex 
material and social world: a world which is constantly making increasing 
demands on his adaptability. So far-reaching is this demand that, in 
recent generations, man, finding incidental and unorganized learning inade- 
quate and uneconomical, has brought into existence the special agency of 
the school. This institution, born in obscurity, but occupying a strategic 
position in the life of society, must be guided and criticized by the most 
intelligent and high-minded counsel. 


An understanding of the place of education in individual and social life 
requires the discussion of the following problems: 


ProsieM 1. How 1s Epucation ReLateD TO ADJUSTMENT? 

ProsBLem 2. Wuat Properties or THE HumMAN OrcanisM MaKe Epv- 
CATION PossiIBLE? 

ProsieM 3. WHat Properties of SocteTy MAKE EpucaTIon NECESSARY? 

ProsieM 4. Wuy Has Society ESTABLISHED THE SCHOOL TO PROMOTE 
EDUCATION? 


PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


PROBLEM I 
HOW IS EDUCATION RELATED TO ADJUSTMENT? 


How universal is adjustment in life? — Why is adjustment not merely 
adaptation to the environment? — How does biological differ from educa- 
tional adjustment? — What is the scope of education? — How is adjust- 
ment a function of an organism seeking its own ends? — What is the range 
of educational adjustment? — How do biological and educational adjust- 
ment give continuity to life? — What factors necessitate adjustment? — 
What is education? 

How universal is adjustment in life? In the thought of 
to-day education is regarded as a method of adjustment. 
Education is such an essential part of the fabric of life that 
we should expect it to be interwoven with that process of 
adaptation which characterizes every level of life at every 
moment of existence. Man, in common with all living 
organisms, is compelled to bring himself into harmony 
with his surroundings. The penalty of extreme and long- 
continued failure to make the larger adjustments is death; 
the penalty of-failure to make the smaller adjustments is 
arrest of growth. Man is goaded into the eternal vigilance 
which characterizes living by the punishments and rewards 
which attend his action. 

Why is adjustment not merely adaptation to the en- 
vironment? The term “adjustment” as commonly em- 
ployed may easily carry too narrow a meaning. While 
in the case of the animal the process may be regarded as 
consisting essentially of a “ fitting into” the environment, 
in the case of man, especially in his more advanced types 


4 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION . 


of activity, such a simple statement is apt to be misleading. 
Adjustment is something more than the forcing of a plastic 
and passive individual into agreement with a fixed and 
unchangeable environment. The animal, owing to its 
small capacity for altering the external conditions of life, 
is forced into the simple type of adjustment and accepts 
nature asitis. But in man adaptation involves much more, 
including not only the changing of the individual to fit 
the environment, but also the most thoroughgoing at- 
tempts on his part to change the conditions under which 
he lives. 

As man removes political tyrants who would require 
his complete submission to their purposes, so in the realm 
of physical nature he may banish from the earth scourges, 
such as bubonic plague and typhus, which threaten his 
existence. By harnessing the forces of his environment 
and converting its materials into tools, he is enabled to 
overcome its more formidable and dangerous aspects. 
Thus he alters the conditions of life. The artificial environ- 
ment found in any advanced civilization is illustrative of 
the manner in which aggressive action can modify and 
even determine the conditions under which life is led. 
Any adequate conception of adjustment as a life process 
must therefore include its twofold aspect, involving, on 
the one hand, the modification of the organism to meet 
the external environment, and, on the other, the modifi- 
cation of the environment to further the ends of life. 

How does biological differ from educational adjustment? 
In preparing man to meet the conditions of life, Nature 
may be said to have endowed him with two methods of 
response which in their extreme form may be contrasted. 
Both of these modes of response find their basis in biological 
inheritance. The first shows itself in the development of 
a definitely specialized organic structure or in certain fixed 


ADJUSTMENT AND EDUCATION 5 


modes of response to particular stimulations of the en- 
vironment, while the second involves a system of response 
which is generalized in its character and not immediately 
serviceable to meet any specific condition. Under the 
process of living these generalized tendencies make possible 
all those adjustments which are necessary to meet the 
different aspects of an environment which is constantly 
changing. 

As illustrations of the first type of direct and fixed 
biological adaptations we may cite the circulatory, diges- 
tive, excretory, and reproductive systems. ‘These mech- 
anisms provided by heredity adapt the organism to meet 
certain aspects of the life-condition which are relatively 
unchanging from age to age. As an illustration of the 
second method of adaptation we may cite any of the 
processes of learning found in man. He is able to learn 
to use the hand and fingers for many and varied purposes, 
ranging from carrying food to the mouth to painting an 
elaborate canvas. He is enabled to make this wide range 
of adjustment because in his biological structure the 
mechanisms which control the movements of the arm, 
hand, and fingers are so flexible at birth as to permit a 
diversity of useful movements. Instead of the special- 
ization and fixity of response to which reference has just 
been made, there is a flexibility in action and modifiability 
of response which facilitate adaptation. Because man 
inherits a nervous system that is exceptionally plastic, 
he is the adaptable animal par excellence. Were man to 
inherit a very much richer repertoire of fixed responses, he 
might, without experience, be in a better position to meet 
the more immediate demands of his environment. But, 
since he would for that very reason lack the modifiability 
which is the foundation of all learning and progress, he 
would purchase this initial facility at a heavy price. 


6 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


The fixed and abiding methods of reaction, which are the 
free gift of heredity, can only serve, therefore, to adjust 
the individual to certain elemental and immutable aspects 
of his existence. To the rapidly changing conditions of the 
ordinary environment this type of biological inheritance is 
totally incapable of providing the individual with adequate 
modes of response. If we are to understand the manner 
in which the human organism meets the complex and 
fleeting demands of life, attention must be focussed on 
that flexible part of the biological inheritance which is 
chiefly resident in the nervous system. 

The biological inheritance, exhibiting these two different 
aspects, may with obvious limitations be likened to a 
legacy received by a son from his father. A certain part 
of the inheritance is invested in fixed directions and, by 
the terms of the will, must always be devoted to these 
purposes, while the remainder of the property is in an 
unsettled form. This convertible portion of the inherit- 
ance, after it has been worked over, may then be applied 
in many and diverse ways. If we assume that the fixed 
portion provides merely the irreducible minimum for 
existence, obviously any growth or any entrance into new 
fields is dependent on the development of the remainder 
of the legacy which comes down in flexible form. The 
greater the amount of this adaptable inheritance, the 
greater is the chance for growth, and the larger is the 
opportunity to take advantage of any changes which 
conditions create. 

To the type of adaptation secured through these fixed 
modes of response the term “ biological adjustment ”’ has 
been applied; and to the other type, made possible by the 
flexibility of other portions of the biological inheritance, 
the term “educational adjustment” has been given. While 
all adjustment is clearly conditioned by the biological 


ADJUSTMENT AND EDUCATION r 


inheritance, it is convenient to make this distinction be- 
tween the universal biological accommodations and the 
other forms of adaptation which are individual in their 
nature and are dependent on the experience and education 
to which each member of the race is subjected. If we are 
to understand the complex process of adaptation in its 
entirety, we must take into account the gradual enrich- 
ment over long periods of time of the biological inheritance, 
particularly as this enrichment proceeds in the direction 
of increased plasticity and the accumulation of those 
resources which facilitate educational adjustment. 

What is the scope of education? At this point the 
relation which exists between adjustment and education 
should be made more explicit. While many have restricted 
the connotation of the term “education” to those changes 
which are consciously made in the immature individual 
by society through the special institution of the school, 
such a restriction of the term is unwarrantable and in- 
defensible. Under education, used in its widest sense, 
must be included all those changes which from birth to 
death are wrought in the individual by the process of 
learning. Whether these changes take place in extreme 
infancy or old age, whether they occur in the home, in the 
school, or in the market-place, is a matter of no conse- 
quence — they are all essentially alike in form and must be 
included under the term “education.” It is only through 
the writings of a special group of individuals known as 
schoolmasters, possessing a false sense of values with 
reference to their own particular occupation, that the 
term “education” has been restricted to certain processes 
that take place in the limited environment of the school. 
In so far as any individual holds rigidly to this idea of 
education, he is in fact, as in name, a master of a school and 
not an educator. 


8 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


How is adjustment a function of an organism seeking 
its own ends? As we have already noted, man is not 
merely a passive organism which adapts itself to certain 
external conditions; adaptation is more properly described 
as a process whereby the organism takes advantage of 
certain elements of its environment to further its own 
ends. ‘The individual endowed with certain native urges 
and drives, finding himself in an environment which is 
partly friendly and partly hostile, seeks to direct its forces 
towards the satisfaction of these cravings within himself. 
Group life, with its infinite ramifications and subtle rela- 
tionships, has evolved unconsciously and consciously a 
mode of existence whereby man can gratify his impulses 
in increasing measure. A progressive society seeks only 
within certain limits to make the individual member 
conform, but rather strives to make the nature of its 
organization such that scope will be given to the social and 
inventive powers of the individual. Considered from the 
more comprehensive point of view, the total process of 
adjustment and education may properly be regarded as a 
reaction between man and the environment which results 
in furnishing the conditions for his physical, intellectual, 
and moral growth. While common parlance speaks of the 
environment producing certain changes in the individual, 
interpreted too strictly this form of speech is in error. 
The environment can never produce an adjustment; adap- 
tation is always the act of the organism in response to a 
certain stimulation. While it is conditioned by the environ- 
ment, the initiative is always with the organism. Failure 
to make the adequate adjustment may always be traced 
to one of two causes: either the individual does not possess 
the necessary contributing mechanisms to consummate 
the adaptation, or else, given the necessary contributing 
mechanisms, the wrong combination of actions is elicited. 


ADJUSTMENT AND EDUCATION 9 


What is the range of educational adjustment? Adapta- 
tions may be of all degrees of complexity, ranging from the 
simplest form of physiological adjustment, typified by 
improvement in the sucking reactions of the infant, to 
intellectual adaptations which demand the highest form of 
consciousness. While many writers have sought to draw a 
sharp line of demarcation between the lower types of 
adjustment, which they have termed physical, and the 
higher types termed mental, it is extremely difficult to 
make such a distinction. We must merely note, at this 
time, that there are great differences mm the degree of 
complexity required for adjustments of various kinds. 
The highest form of mental adaptation must be regarded 
as having elements in common with the more simple types 
of adjustment at a purely physiological level. The scien- 
tist, attempting to solve an intricate intellectual problem, 
is engaging in an activity which, in many respects, is not 
essentially different from that occurring in some of the 
very elementary adaptive processes of childhood. 

How do biological and educational adjustment give 
continuity to life? Having shown the relationship between 
biological inheritance and the educational process, we must 
now view, as from a distance, the wide sweep of the vast 
process of adaptation taking place during the progress of the 
ages. With feverish haste each generation attempts to 
make those adjustments which are essential to its continuous 
life and growth. Each generation, starting with the plastic- 
ity characteristic of infancy, when subjected to the processes 
of a formal and informal education, undergoes certain 
changes which bring it into harmony with the more pressing 
aspects of its environment. Useful at the time of inception, 
these adaptations are rendered obsolete by continuous varia- 
tion in the environment; moreover, they inhibit the forma- 
tion of new habits and result in an old age which, on account 


10 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


of its fixity of response, is incapable of meeting the changing 
scenes of life. At this time death draws the curtain and 
the veteran actors leave the stage. 

If this were all, the tale would have beentold. But the 
process of reproduction enables the play to continue, for at 
the time when the previous generation is losing its capacity 
for further growth a new generation arises, buoyant and 
impressionable, which, while capable of acquiring the ad- 
vantageous adaptations of the preceding generation, has 
still before it, owing to the non-transmission of acquired 
physiological characteristics, the possibilities of growth 
which its forebears have lost. Birth, education, repro- 
duction, death form the four acts of this life-drama. The 
infant, through a process of training, becomes the responsi- 
ble adult, who having reproduced himself in his offspring 
tarries sufficiently long to coach the new generation in its 
initial parts. When the stage is becoming full and the 
older actors are losing the mental and physical energy 
necessary to the later scenes, they are called away by the 
great prompter Death, and the play is carried forward by 
their erstwhile pupils. Unhampered by the weakness and 
conservatism of those who have been called, the younger 
performers carry on the drama until such time as they 
in their turn, losing their flexibility and resiliency, must 
make room on the stage for their children. This over- 
lapping of the successive generations, during which the 
process of education may take place, supplies to mankind 
a continuity of growth which is denied to each single gen- 
eration. 

What factors necessitate adjustment? Mention must 
still be made of the various factors which make adjustment 
necessary. Whenever the environment makes demands 
upon the individual which cannot be met by instinctive 
or habitual responses, the process of adjustment is condi- 


ADJUSTMENT AND EDUCATION il 


tioned. A consideration of the simple types of reaction 
of which the new-born infant is capable, and the com- 
plexity of the environment into which he is born, reveals 
the range of the adjustment which would be necessary 
even if the environment were static. But a static environ- 
ment is impossible; its very complexity works for changes 
which augment the demand for adaptation. In addition, 
certain changes within the individual which are partly 
the result of the environment, but largely due to internal 
processes, bring about the necessity for further adjust- 
ments. The development of the instincts and inborn 
capacities bring with them their imperative urges to new 
types of activity and new modes of response. Adjust- 
ment is a state that is never completely attained; it is a 
continuous process, made necessary by: (1) the complex- 
ity of the environment; (2) changes in the environment; 
(3) inner changes in the organism. While often defined in 
terms of adjustment, education should for scientific pur- 
poses be considered as a series of adjustments. The com- 
plexity of the environment and other factors that we have 
discussed make complete adaptation out of the question; 
only certain limited adjustments may be made. It is the 
obligation of society to ascertain the peculiar adjustments 
which are desirable for each particular individual, and, 
then, to discover the most economical methods of aiding 
this individual to bring these changes into effect. 

What is education? Looked at from this point of view, 
education, as a social process, is nothing more than an 
economical method of assisting an initially ill-adapted 
individual, during the short period of a single life, to cope 
with the ever-increasing complexities of the world. One 
thing is certain, either we must contrive to make education 
more effective, or else we must be satisfied with a simpler 
civilization. The biological equipment of the individual 


12 


PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


—. 


cannot be altered; the life-period of man cannot be extended 
beyond threescore years and ten; the conditions of our 
natural and social life do not lend themselves to simpli- 
fication. These limitations create the necessity for more 
clearly conceived ideals of conscious effort in the service of 
education. To creative thought in this field the best 
minds of each age must be dedicated, for education is the 
parent and guardian of civilization. 


10. 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


. How is adjustment exhibited in the realm of inanimate nature? How 


does this type of adjustment differ from that shown by living things? 


. What bearing has the evolutionary concept of adjustment on the at- 


tempt to formulate a final and fixed aim for the process of education? 


. What are the main distinctions between the process of adaptation as 


found in the animal and as found in man? 


. Why is the genius impelled to make so many more adjustments than 


the feeble-minded individual? How does the method of adjustment 
differ in these two extremes? 


. How would the process of adjustment be modified if the life-span of 


each member of the race were four times its present length? 


. What strong evidence is there for the statement that the adjustment 


process in the social and moral realm has not kept pace with the ad- 
vance in the adjustment in the material and scientific realm? 


. Show in detail how: (1) internal bodily changes, and (2) mental 


changes, bring about a condition of maladjustment. 


. Is the environment a stronger factor in controlling the nature of the 


adaptive forms in the case of the animal than in the case of man? 


. List all the environmental influences which work for the education of 


man in the savage state. Compare these with those now brought to 
bear on civilized man. 

In the case of man, how is education made necessary by the fact of 
reproduction? 


PROBLEM 2 


WHAT PROPERTIES OF THE HUMAN ORGANISM 
MAKE EDUCATION POSSIBLE? 


How does reproduction necessitate educational adjustment? — How is 
education dependent on infancy? — What is man’s equipment for edu- 
cational adjustment? — How do individuals differ in this equipment? — 
How is behavior modified by experience? — What is the mechanism under- 
lying habit formation? — How is memory related to habit formation? — 
How do social impulses motivate adaptation? — How does the integration 
of habits complicate behavior? — What rdle does reflection play in adjust- 
ment? — How does integration culminate in personality? 
How does reproduction necessitate educational adjust- 
ment? In the discussion of the previous problem, mankind 
was shown to make its long-range adjustment, involving 
countless ages, through a process of reproduction which 
in each generation rejuvenates the race. On the other 
hand, the short-range adjustment made necessary through 
reproduction, takes place during the limited life-period of 
the individual; consequently the properties of the organism 
conditioning this process must now receive our attention. 
How is education dependent on infancy? We have seen 
how the immaturity of the new-born infant, involving a 
total incompetence in its unchanged form to meet even 
the simple requirements of its existence, makes necessary 
a lifetime process of adjustment. Stressing, as it does, 
the inadequacy of the initial equipment of the child, this 
is a negative way in which to regard infancy. Looked at 
from the standpoint of plasticity, it must be noted that 
the physiological factors which characterize infancy carry 
within themselves positive forces and powers which more 
than compensate for the inadequacy of the initial responses. 
The young chick, hastening from its prison shell, is far 


14 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


better adapted to meet its limited environment than is the 
human infant. The former, inheriting certain fixed modes 
of useful response, becomes at once capable of a relatively 
independent existence; the latter, muling and puking in 
its nurse’s arms, is helpless and must be tended for many 
years. 

Nevertheless, hidden in the nervous system of the child 
are the possibilities of a far-reaching development denied 
the chick., In fact, the capacity for development seems 
to vary directly with the length of infancy; the longer this 
period and the greater the initial helplessness, the more 
the final achievement. ‘This helplessness, while not good 
in itself, serves to call forth a solicitude and tender care 
on the part of the parent and society, a care which in an 
advanced civilization may extend over twenty or more 
years, covering a third of the span of a well-rounded life. 
How is it that the child can derive benefit from such 
prolonged dependence? What properties of the human 
organism make possible such diverse and intricate adjust- 
ments? 

What is man’s equipment for educational adjustment? 
The answer to this question must be found in the human 
body, including the grosser structures of head, neck, arms, 
legs, and trunk, the tissues of bone, cartilage, blood, and 
flesh, and the functioning systems for respiration, circula- 
tion, digestion, excretion, secretion, reproduction, together 
with that marvelously intricate and delicate mechanism 
for coérdination and control to which the term “nervous 
system” is given. It is the unification in this intricate 
physiological structure, made possible through the continu- 
ous functioning of the higher mental processes, that per- 
mits the process of growth to be so far-reaching and pro- 
longed. | 

Regarded from the widest viewpoint the human body is 


PROPERTIES OF HUMAN ORGANISM 15 


an exquisite mechanism which is adapted, on the one hand, 
to receive impressions and, on the other, to make certain 
internal and external reactions as a result of these impres- 
sions. To liken this human connection system to any 
invention of man, such as a vast telephone exchange, 
while possibly helpful to the student, is totally inade- 
quate to convey a conception of its complexity, its precision, 
and its vitality. 

For the most part, the grosser physical equipment is 
not markedly different from that of the higher animals; 
but a superficial examination of the nervous system of 
man shows an unusual degree of complexity resident in 
the higher nerve centers of the brain. Confining our at- 
tention chiefly to man, we may note four possessions of the 
human organism: (1) certain reflexes, instincts and original 
capacities with their corresponding wants, cravings and 
drives, many present at birth, and the others maturing 
more or less independently of external conditions; (2) an ac- 
tion system through the functioning and modification of 
which the equilibrium is maintained; (3) a sensitivity to a 
lack of adjustment, causing the individual to attempt to 
reéstablish equilibrium; (4) a power to retain impressions 
as a result of a physiological structure which registers the 
responses of the past and thereby changes the organism. 
Although this classification is somewhat arbitrary and 
forced, it is helpful in educational analysis. The sensi- 
tivity and the action system cannot, of course, be divorced 
from the instincts themselves; nor can the retentivity be 
considered apart from the action system. In the last 
analysis the only properties which the individual brings 
into the world are found in his reflexes, his instincts, and 
his inborn capacities. These, constituting his total action 
system, make him sensitive to lack of adjustment, and_ 
cause him to initiate a wide variety of responses from 


16 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION | 


which permanent modifications of the action system 
result. With this word of caution in mind no misconcep- 
tion need arise from the use of this classification. 

How do individuals differ in this equipment? In the 
adaptive system of every child, by virtue of inheritance, 
these four possessions are found; but the qualitative and 
quantitative differences in each one of these properties 
varies greatly from individual to individual. At the one 
extreme is the master mind dominated by powerful drives 
and sensitive to the smallest maladjustment, possessing a 
nervous system which is capable of a rich variety of re- 
sponses and able to retain in a marked degree the impres- 
sions left by previous successful reactions; while, at the 
other, is the idiot, who, deficient in both instinctive drives 
and sensitivity, is equipped with an inadequate action 
system from which the effects of past experience are 
quickly erased. | 

How is behavior modified by experience? Starting 
with the four elementary properties of the organism just 
outlined, we may now trace that gradual process of develop- 
ment whereby the infant progresses from the stage of diffuse 
and ineffective response to that ordered and unified behavior 
which characterizes what is commonly called adult personal- 
ity. In this brief statement we can only point out the more 
important stages which mark the long journey from a help- 
less infancy to an adult competency. Whenever the child, 
driven by its inner urges and feelings, or disturbed by some 
change in the environment, finds itself in a state of malad- 
justment, certain reactions are made in an effort to reéstab- 
lish a condition of equilibrium. If these reactions are suc- 
cessful, the adjustment takes place and the path along which 
the discharge of nervous energy occurs suffers change. 
As a result there is facilitation of the same response to 
the same situation in the future. If, however, the initial 


PROPERTIES OF HUMAN ORGANISM i? 


reactions are unsuccessful, other types of response are 
tried until the organism either makes the adequate re- 
sponse or becomes exhausted through fatigue. Even in 
the case of the unsuccessful reaction, as is indicated by 
the reduced probability of the repetition of this response 
in the future, some trace is left in nervous tissue. 

But, confining ourselves to the successful reaction which 
eventuates from the process of trial and error, we must 
assume certain changes taking place in the nervous system 
which increase the likelihood that the successful response 
will recur on the return of the same or a similar situation. 
This whole process is illustrated by the infant which, ly- 
ing in its crib and impelled by the urge of hunger, makes a 
host of random movements, eventuating sooner or later in 
a lusty cry that attracts the nurse and brings relief. Day 
by day, thereafter, as the infant faces the ever-recurring 
problem of hunger, these random and unnecessary move- 
ments gradually fall away; there finally remains only that 
element which attracts attention —the cry. The process 
illustrated by the formation of this simple reaction is found 
in all higher types of human response. 

What is the mechanism underlying habit formation? 
To this alteration of the path of discharge, to this forma- 
tion within the organism of certain preferential associa- 
tions, to this memory trace of past experience, the name 
habit formation is given. Through habit all previous 
acquisitions of the system tend to be preserved to form 
a basis for the later acquisition of more complex forms 
of behavior. The phenomena of habit formation are 
dependent on the inherent property of the physiological 
structure to suffer change by experience and, at the same 
time, to preserve the new set that has been given. In 
other words, plasticity and retentivity are the essential 
factors in this fundamental process. Thus each new 


18 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


method of response, growing out of the original responses 
and contributing to the total reaction system of the indi- 
vidual, is made available for yet higher forms of adjust- 
ment. The simpler habit systems are combined to form 
higher systems until the organism acquires a vast repertoire 
of habits which, by selection and coérdination, enable the 
individual to adjust himself to the more complex aspects of 
the environment. An example of the existence and co- 
ordinate functioning of such a repertoire may be observed 
in the debater who, while pursuing a line of rigorous thought, 
brings into service the extraordinarily \intricate mechan- 
isms of speech, the habits of bodily posture and equilibrium, 
and the acquisitions of appropriate gesture and delicate 
facial expression. To put it briefly, in making a most diffi- 
cult and complicated adjustment the trained speaker is 
able, through the use of countless habits and habit systems, 
to marshal forces that represent the results of years of 
practice and effort. 

How is memory related to habit formation? Habit for- 
mation clearly bears an intimate relation to memory; for 
the latter is merely a name for the phenomenon which re- 
veals itself when an acquired group of connections, which 
has been idle, manifests itself at a later time. In spite of 
many attempts to differentiate between these two types of 
activity, no useful purpose will be served at this time by 
stressing the distinction. Emphasis should rather be laid 
on the close similarity, if not the identity, of the two pro- 
cesses. ‘This is recognized even in common speech, since, 
in referring to the formation of the motor habits involved 
in some game, such as billiards, we speak of forgetting a 
certain shot; and since, after years of absence from the 
skating rink, we wonder to what degree the various move- 
ments involved in skating will be remembered. In just the 
same fashion with reference to language habits, ten years 


PROPERTIES OF HUMAN ORGANISM 19 


after learning a piece of poetry, we are interested in the 
degree that the skill acquired at the initial learning has been 
retained. 

How do social impulses motivate adaptation? Before 
going further the reader must note that adaptations to the 
material environment, though fundamental, consume but a 
small part of the energy of man. The social instincts and 
tendencies which man inherits make him peculiarly sensi- 
tive to the actions and the thought of others, with the result 
that the more numerous adjustments which he is called 
upon to make are to the social aspects of his environment. 
To the powers which grow out of this inherent desire to pay 
attention to others, to seek the approval and avoid the dis- 
approval of ‘his fellows, man’s biological success must be 
ascribed. His sensitiveness to the social part of his en- 
vironment, his consciousness of kind, his capacity for work- 
Ing in co-operation with others like himself, his adapta- 
bility to the thought, feeling, and action of his associates, 
his willingness to submit, his desire to exploit — these so- 
cial traits give man his elevated and unique status. In so 
far as these powers are highly developed, the organism be- 
comes distinctively human; in so far as they are lacking, it 
degenerates to the animal level. On this capacity of the 
human organism to form social habits, a capacity conspicu- 
ously absent in any high degree in the lower animals, we 
must focus, if we are to understand man as an adaptive 
mechanism. 

How does the integration of habits complicate behavior? 
The alterations which are made in the action system by 
experience and which constitute our habits and memories, 
together with inborn differences, serve to differentiate one 
individual from another. As these alterations or changes 
in the individual become increasingly numerous, as higher 
and higher integrations of lower mechanisms take place, the 


20 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


process of training and education proceeds. The skills, the 
information, and the character of the individual, however 
intricate these may seem in the adult, must be traced, on 
the physiological side, to the growth of these preferential 
paths of energy discharge. ‘Taking into account the initial 
complexity of the nervous system, combined with the al- 
most infinite capacity for registering changes resulting from 
the material and social contacts incident to living, it 1s not 
difficult to realize how intricate may become the final re- 
actions of the individual. If we assume at birth a highly en- 
dowed nature to whose physical wants the closest attention 
is given, and if we assume that this nature is submitted to 
a wise and rich home training, followed by a balanced and 
economical formal education in the school and university, 
rounded by a life of travel full of diverse experiences, how 
subtle may be the final product! How different are the re- 
actions of such an individual from those found in the ordi- 
nary man! How totally different from those found in the 
highest animal! 

What role does reflection play in adjustment? To under- 
stand the process of integration and unification which pro- 
duces this difference, attention must be concentrated on the 
higher mental processes of reflection. ‘To these processes 
must be ascribed the leading réle in the production of those 
types of behavior which are exclusively human. While it 
is a mistake to attribute the most complex forms of conduct 
to the working of some mysterious “self” or “ selective 
force ’ divorced from the rest of the reaction system, it 
seems equally fallacious to attempt to explain behavior, 
which is commonly attributed to thinking, choice, and pur- 
pose, wholly in terms of physiological mechanisms. We 
are not prepared to believe that thinking, the biological 
climax of a long period of selection, is nothing more than an 
unnecessary accompaniment of an elaborate interplay of 


PROPERTIES OF HUMAN ORGANISM 21 


physiological forces. While recognizing the manner in 
which thinking is dependent on these physiological mechan- 
isms, we do not believe that the unification of behavior 
which it brings can be wholly explained in terms of physio- 
logical changes. While we may be forever in ignorance as 
to the relation that exists between mental and nervous pro- 
cesses, and as to the exact manner in which thought can 
affect action, this enigma must not cause us to overlook the 
fundamental part played by the higher thought processes in 
the determination of conduct. But this theoretical point 
we shall consider later; meanwhile it will be sufficient to 
regard the processes of thought and will, with their obvious 
selective functions, as being the highest means yet evolved 
of making adjustments to the more intricate aspects of the 
environment. 

How does integration ‘culminate in personality? From 
this discussion, even though the more delicate lines and tints 
are still lost in shadow, the bold outline of the integrated 
individual emerges. ‘This outline reveals a reaction system 
in which there is greater and greater complexity of nervous 
structure, In which the lower mechanisms are combined to 
form higher mechanisms, and in which these higher mechan- 
isms form the basis of still higher adjustments until, in re- 
flective conduct, the highest form of coérdination of be- 
havior is achieved. ‘To the individual exhibiting this last 
form of integration, with its vast range of possibilities, we 
have every right to ascribe personality 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


1. What instinctive tendencies have you observed in children? Tlus- 
trate. How do you know these tendencies are instinctive? 

2. How does the instinctive equipment of man resemble and differ from 
that of the dog? 

3. How would you justify the statement that ‘‘all education is depend- 
ent on the instinctive equipment’’? 


22 


PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


. What is the distinction between an instinctive action and an action 


which is the result of habit formation? 


. What habits are formed by man and domestic animals alike? What 


are the habits which distinguish man most completely from the 
animal? 


. What is the relationship between habit and what is commonly called 


memory? Why is memory so essential to adjustment? 


. Can man conduct elaborate trains of thought without language? 


What: is the relationship in the child between language habits and 
motor habits? 


. Why is there often a conflict between the “dictates of reason”’ and 


the “dictates of instinct?”’ 


. When does the child begin to think? 
. How does the phenomenon of the total eclipse of the sun differ in its 


meaning for the astronomer and his dog? Show further that every 
experience we undergo is relatively meaningless unless accompanied 
by the thought process. 


. How do the emotions help or hinder clear thinking? 
. What economy does thinking introduce into the process of adapta- 


tion? 


. In what sense are all men created equal? What is the distinction be- 


tween equality in the sight of the law and equality in native equip- 
ment? Can education “destroy”? physical, mental, and moral dif- 
ferences? 


PROBLEM 3 


WHAT PROPERTIES OF SOCIETY MAKE 
EDUCATION NECESSARY? 


How universal is group life? — Why do men live in groups? — What is the 
survival value of group life? — What réle has the family played in the de- 
velopment of group life? — How does the growth of folkways make edu- 
cation necessary? — How may education at this level bar the way to 
progress? — How has the primitive group expanded? — What are the 
advantages of life in the Great Society? — Can man prosper in the Great 
Society? — Is man’s versatility adequate to the task? — Can education 
make man equal’to the task? 

How universal is group life? Group life is a universal 
characteristic of mankind. Into the group man is born, 
through it he acquires skills and knowledges, at its behest 
he learns the use of tools and processes, in its ranks he earns 
his daily bread, under its banners he marches forth to battle, 
with its members he learns to sing and dance and play, from 
it he receives religions and philosophies, and by it the last 
rites are said over his inanimate form. Mythology, it is 
true, tells us of a Romulus nursed and cared for through in- 
fancy by a she-wolf, fiction has created for us a Robinson 
Crusoe cast up on an uninhabited island, and an occasional 
individual voluntarily withdraws from human companion- 
ship to live a life of solitude; but such cases are either the 
product of imagination or so rare as to be quite unrepre- 
sentative of normal human behavior. ‘Throughout the long 
ages of man’s career upon the earth, and probably during 
many preceding ages, as the slowly evolving primate was 
assuming the human form, man and his progenitors have 
experienced more or less constant membership in the family, 
if not in some larger group. ‘To-day there is no race known 


24 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


to the anthropologist whose members avoid social contacts 
and pursue a life of complete isolation. 

Why do men live in groups? Although the philosophers 
of earlier centuries speculated much upon the problem, the 
question as to why men live in groups is not difficult to an- 
swer to-day. If we confine ourselves to the situation as it 
presents itself in the modern age, the obvious reply to our 
query is that men live in social groups because they are 
born into them, and cannot very well get out of them. 
Another and more fundamental answer directs attention to 
that native equipment of the individual which was the sub- 
ject of analysis in the preceding discussion. Men live in 
groups because they are constituted as they are; for the 
same reason in fact that geese fly in flocks, and cattle run in 
herds. They participate in social life because they like it; 
and they like it because every member of the race possesses, 
as part of his original equipment, certain social tendencies 
which can only find their satisfaction in the contacts af- 
forded by a social environment. If it is denied him for a 
season, man actually hungers for human companionship. 
He continually derives satisfaction from securing the ap- 
proval and avoiding the disapproval of others, from assum- 
ing the leadership of others in group undertakings, and from 
following some dominating personality in the achievement 
of a desired social end. In and through the group the 
nature of the individual finds expression and develops into 
what is commonly called human personality. 

What is the survival value of group life? This tendency 
of man to be interested in his fellows and to seek their com- 
panionship has great utility. The advantages of group life 
in adjusting the individual and the race to the conditions of 
life are many and obvious. Any organism that develops a 
compact group life in which individuals work together for 
common ends has greater chances for survival than the 


PROPERTIES OF SOCIETY 25 


organism that clings to modes of isolated living. The poet, 
the moralist, and the philosopher have all described and 
marveled at the truly extraordinary achievements of ants, 
wasps, and bees; achievements which may be traced directly 
to their remarkable powers of codperative endeavor. Many 
simple though heavy tasks, capable of being performed 
easily through the codperation of a few individuals, are 
utterly beyond the powers of a single member. When the 
task is one that requires various types of special talents, 
skills, and knowledges, there is an added advantage. Then 
individuals, following the line of aptitude and specializing 
in training and experience, may raise the general level of 
achievement far above the possibilities of that isolated indi- 
vidual effort which permits no specialization. When an 
organism possesses the property of learning from the ex- 
perience of others, group life becomes yet more significant 
and advantageous. Association then makes possible not 
only the pooling of native abilities for collective effort, but 
also the pooling and transferring of experiences from one 
individual to other members of the group. Furthermore, 
' this pooling and transference of experiences through the 
instrument called language makes the effective group in- 
clude the dead as well as the living, and the dead in increas- 
ing measure as generations come and go. In a word, social 
life makes possible the discovery, accumulation, and utiliza- 
tion of an unlimited number of tools, skills, procedures, and 
appreciations through which the welfare of the race may be 
promoted. 

What role has the family played in the development of 
group life? There is one part of man’s life that is so essen- 
tial to an understanding of the origin of the group, and so 
central to the growth of human society, as to deserve expli- 
cit attention. We may say without exaggeration that the 
group has grown up around the infant and the phenomena 


26 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


of reproduction. Wherever an animal species is perpetuated 
through sexual reproduction, forces are in operation which 
require in the process of mating at least the fleeting con- 
tacts of the sexes, even though the more extended process 
of courtship is absent. Likewise, among all those organ- 
isms which bring forth their young in a fully formed condi- 
tion, or incubate their eggs during the period of embryonic 
development, an intimate relationship of shorter or longer 
duration is established between the mother and the off- 
spring. If, at the time of birth, the organism is relatively 
helpless, this period of contact between mother and ofi- 
spring is lengthened beyond the time consumed in the ac- 
tual process of birth to cover the entire period of helpless- 
ness. With an occasional visit from the unhampered male, 
this group of two constitutes the beginning of genuine 
social life. As soon as this period of dependence exceeds 
the period of gestation a third member is automatically 
added to the group, and the ties which bind the father are 
drawn a trifle closer. In the case of man, this period of 
infancy is greatly lengthened, and there grows up about the 
mother and father a family of children. Here is the oppor- 
tunity for the development and elaboration of social tenden- 
cles. 

How does the growth of folkways make education neces-= 
sary? Asthis family group persists, as it becomes more per- 
manent, and eventually expands into the larger kinship 
groups of primitive times; and, as this group adjusts itself 
more fully to life situations, there is a gradual and constant 
accumulation of practices, customs, laws, and traditions. 
This accumulation widens the gulf which separates the in- 
fant from the adult. Through the efforts of the older mem- 
bers of the group these past achievements are conserved and 
transmitted to each succeeding generation. In considerable 
measure this is apparently a by-product of the endeavor of 


PROPERTIES OF SOCIETY 27 


the elders to secure stability within the group and to main- 
tain their own supremacy. It must not be supposed that 
there is any large conscious recognition of the wider func- 
tions which stability serves, but rather, a natural resistance 
on their part to the modification of their own customs. 
They occupy a position of privilege in the group and their 
habits and dispositions constitute a vested interest. Thus, 
these ways of doing and thinking, these folkways, as they 
have been styled, gradually take on great authority and 
come to be regarded as wholly good, true, and final. 

Viewed from this standpoint, group life may be likened 
to an intricate game; those who are playing it are jealous of 
its rules; their habits and supremacy, as well as the immedi- 
ate success of the game, depend on a careful adherence to 
the code; and all beginners are required to learn and follow 
it. In this great social game of life the children are the be- 
ginners. In fact every individual is a complete stranger in 
the group into which he is born. He is ignorant of every 
rule; he knows neither its language nor its customs; and he 
possesses none of those skills on which the very existence 
of the group depends. He must become a full-fledged mem- 
. ber of the group; he must come to act and feel and think as 
its older members do; he must become a robust trustee into 
whose care all its possessions may be confidently committed. 
Since the renewal of social life is possible only through the 
induction of new members, unless he is able to sustain this 
difficult réle, the group perishes. As nothing is more cer- 
tain than the eventual death of each member, the education 
of the young in the customs of the group — in the ways of 
the folk — is absolutely essential to the stability and per- 
petuity of society. \ 

How may education at this level bar the way to progress? 
This demand for the acquisition of and conformity to the 
folkways is not however an unmixed blessing, for many of 


28 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


the practices of the group are based on error and others are 
vicious. This dominant interest of the primitive group in 
conserving the achievements of the past 1s a powerful obsta- 
cle to the promotion of more comprehensive and delicate 
adjustments in the interests of future security. Returning 
to the analogy of the preceding paragraph, we may note 
that some of the rules of the game are not worthy of ob- 
servation, and that others need radical alteration. Con- 
servatism must therefore be balanced by some creative 
principle, if social stagnation is to be avoided. 

This principle of change is found in that non-conforming, 
restless and adventurous element which exists at least poten- 
tially in every group. This element is always on the look-out 
for inadequacies in the old methods of adjustment. More- 
over, while man possesses certain inborn social tendencies 
that require group life for their expression, he is at the same 
time only imperfectly equipped by nature for participation in 
such life. He brings with him powerful egoistic impulses 
that keep him in more or less constant conflict with the 
group. From the earliest times, therefore, by taking ad- 
vantage of crises precipitated by external changes, certain 
of the bolder individuals, chafing at the restraints put upon 
them by the vested interests, have occasionally challenged 
group customs and, gathering to their standard the like- 
minded and the dissatisfied, have effected substantial al- 
terations in the social order. 

How has the primitive group expanded? These two 
forces, the one conservative and the other creative, consti- 
tute the basis of all orderly social change. In primitive 
society the former played the dominant part, while in recent 
generations the latter has become increasingly active. As 
we look over the world to-day, we realize that the character 
and conditions of social life have undergone striking changes 
since the days when the first men, in search of food and 


PROPERTIES OF SOCIETY 29 


shelter, wandered in loosely formed bands over the face of 
the earth. For countless ages man lived in small and isolated 
groups, composed of individuals brought together by the 
accidents of kinship and united by the bonds of frequent 
association. ‘Through the primitive and direct occupations 
of hunting and fishing these groups wrested a meager sub- 
sistence from the earth. By invention and discovery, the 
achievement of the daring and gifted individual, man was 
gradually able to supplement his own limited-action system 
by means of fire, tools, weapons, and machines, and such 
immaterial instruments as language, number, and moral 
codes. Through these achievements the power and range of 
human operations were greatly extended in both space and 
time. Because of this ability to invent and to utilize the 
results of invention man, a being of but moderate physical 
powers, is now able to move more rapidly than the swiftest 
of animals, to destroy with ease those savage and powerful 
beasts which struck terror into the hearts of his primitive 
ancestors, to live in relative comfort in arctic snows and 
under the tropic sun, to create new forms of animals and 
plants for either use or fancy, to move mountains and turn 
the course of rivers, to see further than the eagle and more 
minutely than the fly, to make his voice carry around the 
world and even to future generations. 

Accumulating at a constantly accelerating rate, this long 
series of inventions has given birth to a new world, a world 
unlike anything that has existed in the past. Measured in 
terms of travel and communication the earth has been 
greatly reduced in size, while, through more effective con- 
trol of the forces governing the food supply, its population 
kas been vastly augmented. Since ancient times the small 
kinship group, as the unit for human association, has given 
place to larger and larger societies. First, as an expansion 
of the family there came the large tribal organization, then 


30 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


the city-state of the ancient world, followed in more recent 
times by the nation. But to-day human association refuses 
to recognize the boundaries of nations, with the result that 
a war arising from the immediate rivalries of two minor 
States becomes of world moment. Thus the smaller socie- 
ties in which man has lived in the past are being integrated 
into a great industrial and cultural society which knits the 
whole of mankind together in intimate association; a society 
which is now seeking in halting fashion to give itself political 
expression through a League of Nations. It is in this Great 
Society that modern man lives and moves and has his being, 
and it is to this Great Society that his nature must be 
attuned. 

What are the advantages of life in the Great Society? 
The benefits that accrue to the individual from this expan- 
sion of social life are many. Adjustment has been facili- 
tated and the satisfactions of life have been increased. 
Most of the advantages afforded by the small group are 
found in greater measure in the larger group. ‘The extraor- 
dinary advance in the control of the forces of nature has 
markedly improved the material basis of life. Greater 
specialization of function has been made possible. So far 
has this process of differentiation been carried that in some 
instances a whole people or region, because of its possession 
of certain natural advantages or gifts, specializes in the 
production of some useful commodity or cultural service. 
Other peoples or regions, specializing in other directions, 
make necessary the development of a complicated system of 
exchange and communication whereby the material and 
spiritual products of all are made generally accessible. A 
gigantic undertaking, like the construction of a Panama 
Canal, which would have been regarded as an extravagant 
and fantastic dream in a more primitive age, can now, in the 
course of a few years, be carried through to a successful end. 


PROPERTIES OF SOCIETY 31 


Released from the necessity of bending their energies to the 
making of the more immediate and direct adjustments to life, 
individuals and peoples of special and superior talent can 
apply themselves to the study of those natural and social 
forces upon which man’s existence depends. Through an 
understanding of these forces a yet more complete adjust- 
ment to the environment is furthered. Man has already 
banished from the great society one of the three great 
scourges that in ancient times periodically decimated the 
race, namely, famine; he has greatly reduced the ravages of 
a second, disease; and he is seriously considering the early 
abolition of the third, war. If space permitted, this list of 
advantages could be indefinitely prolonged. 

Can man prosper in the Great Society? There is another 
side to the picture, however. Many thoughtful men to-day 
are wondering if these great societies of the present are not 
too large and complicated for the promotion of the genuine 
interests of mankind. Is man able to control the forces 
which he has unloosed on a primitive world? Has he not 
through his inventions opened a second Pandora’s box, 
_ more real than the first, out of which has come ills that will 
eventually work his own destruction? In our economic life 
there looms a bitter struggle between the different interests 
engaged in the production and the distribution of the fruits 
of codperative endeavor; and the conflict is further embit- 
tered by that differentiation and mechanization of the pro- 
ductive process which, by fostering the development of a 
highly unnatural life, creates a situation so artificial as to 
thwart the expression of powerful inborn tendencies. Be- 
cause of the impracticability and even impossibility of 
sustaining close contacts in the wide associations of the 
larger groups the relationships of individual to individual, 
of group to group, and of individual to group, have of neces- 
sity become largely impersonal. Man’s original social 


32 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


nature was evolved under conditions of most intimate per- 
sonal relations, and it responds to situations arising in such 
a setting. We are disturbed again and again in our political 
life because the level of achievement of even a group of in- 
telligent, sincere, and public spirited legislators is too low 
to meet the needs of society. — 

This situation recalls the dictum of the Greek philosopher, 
who claimed that the extension of efficient democratic 
government was definitely limited by the number of persons 
who are able at one and the same time to come within the 
tange of a single human voice. While the miraculous de- 
velopment of the means of communication in the form of 
newspapers, telegraph, telephone, amplifiers, and radio 
makes necessary the revision of this early political notion, 
it serves to direct attention to the type of group life for 
which man is naturally fitted. This equipment seems yet 
more inadequate to meet the difficulties arising out of the 
relations of nations, races, and religious sects. Here, espe- 
cially, the process of adjustment halts. These relations 
seem to generate conflicts that in recent years have de- 
stroyed a goodly portion of civilization, and in the future 
may destroy it beyond redemption. The man of thought 
to-day holds up his hands in intellectual despair at the sight 
of two peoples engaging in deadly conflict, each thoroughly 
convinced that it fights in a righteous cause and for the 
ultimate welfare of mankind. Many of these difficulties 
may be traced to the fact that man’s biological inheritance 
was evolved to make adjustments to a much simpler en- 
vironment than that in which he finds himself at present. 
Equipped by nature to settle family squabbles, man now 
finds himself compelled to adjust the conflicts of nations. 

Is man’s versatility adequate to the task? While it is 
impossible to avoid such disquieting thoughts, one cannot 
help feeling that the general tone of pessimism current to-day 


PROPERTIES OF SOCIETY $8 


comes from an undue emphasis upon what man is by origi- 
nal nature, rather than on what he may become through 
education. It may also be traced to the tendency to as- 
sume that this inborn equipment is relatively fixed in its 
expression, and that in general there is but one type of en- 
vironment to which it can be made to respond. Do not 
those who insist on the hopeless nature of the maladjust- 
ment which we see in the world to-day make the mistake of 
placing the emphasis on that part of the native endowment 
which insures stereotyped and unmodifiable responses, 
rather than on that portion composed of highly adjustable 
mechanisms which not only adapt the organism to changes 
in the environment but also enable the organism to modify 
the environment in its own interests? 

Through his own thought and labor the mighty inventions 
and the great societies have come into existence. By yet 
greater thought and more arduous labor man will find the 
means of controlling these children of his brain. Such isa 
legitimate educational faith. ‘Those who would sound the 
note of despair must admit that they know next to nothing 
regarding the absolute potentialities of this nature of man. 
If we turn from man’s primitive nature and with Hamlet 
exclaim, “ What a piece of work is a man! How noble in 
reason! How infinite in faculty! ’’ — the more hopeful and 
equally human side of the picture is exhibited. If only 
man can be brought to use those higher powers, which he 
possesses and which are as real as the more primitive ones, 
for the solution of the very problems which his efforts have 
created, he can put his house in order. But to do this he 
must be prepared to turn his back on the folkways; he must 
rid himself of ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving which 
are not adapted.to the present conditions of his life. 

Can education make man equal to the task? The com- 
plex and intricate problems of a scientific, intellectual, and 


34 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


social world cannot be met by an education which is not 
equally scientific, intellectual and social in its conception. 
The marvelous expansion of the material culture has not 
been accompanied by a corresponding expansion of the 
moral culture. Only through the latter may the former be 
made to serve the purposes of mankind. In our mastery of 
the forces of physical nature, thanks to the genius and de- 
votion of a relatively small number of men, we have made 
extraordinary advances during the last few centuries, and 
have developed skills and knowledges of endless variety, 
complexity, and usefulness; but advances and improve- 
ments of equal significance in the world of social relations 
have been notably lacking. To use a figure, the chariot of 
human destiny, which at one time rumbled slowly along its 
path, now, driven by vastly more powerful forces, is rushing 
along a road at such a pace as to invite disaster. In the 
slowly moving vehicle of primitive times man was quite at 
home, and a very mediocre level of horsemanship was 
sufficient to keep it on its course; but, as the power of its 
steeds has increased and as its pace has accelerated, the 
driver has been forced to carry heavier and heavier responsi- 
bilities. This he has been compelled to do with a native 
equipment but little changed and with a cultural equipment 
adapted to the simple tasks of the less strenuous past. To 
a carefully-planned and rigorous system of education, con- 
sciously conceived in the light of the need, society must turn, 
if man is to come into the possession of the skill, knowledge, 
and character commensurate with his great social responsi- 
bility. 

Is not the impasse in which the race finds itself to-day to 
be explained partly by the fact that an unanalyzed process 
of education is still imparting old habits which had their 
origin and justification in an environment of an earlier and 
simpler age? Owing toa social and intellectual inertia, are 


PROPERTIES OF SOCIETY - $5 


we not still insisting that our children acquire adjustments 
which articulate with conditions that have passed from the 
earth? Under these circumstances is it any wonder that 
men are overwhelmed by the demands of the present social 
life? Moreover, universal formal education has been con- 
templated only in most recent times, and has never been 
thoroughly analyzed or adequately enforced. We must not 
fatalistically lament the limitations of human nature, as in 
ages past our ancestors bowed resignedly before the forces 
of physical nature. It is our bounden duty to set ourselves 
definitely to the task of utilizing more effectively the po- 
tentialities for good resident in our own capacities. What- 
ever may be the view as to the possibility of man’s controlling 
and guiding the vast social mechanisms which he has 
brought into existence, he is, perforce, driven to accept the 
challenge and engage in the heroic struggle. And this heroic 
struggle can only be carried to a successful issue by equip- 
ping him with an education which in its scope and thorough- 
ness matches the forces which must be controlled. 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


1. Why do men live in groups? What are the advantages of group life? 

2. Why is solitary confinement regarded as one of the most severe forms 
of punishment? 

8. What truth is there in the statement that the child is anti-social? 
What human traits cause friction in society? 

4, Why has the family been called the mother of society and of all social 
institutions? 

5. How do you explain the increased power of successive generations in 
the light of our definite knowledge that man’s native equipment has 
changed but little since the days of savagery? 

6. What is the relation of progress to social change? 

7. How has society been transformed by great inventions in the realms 
of transportation, communication, and economic production? 

8. In what respects has the growth of the Great Society increased both 
the demands and the possibilities for systematic education in the 
fields of: (a) health; (b) family life; (c) industry; (d) citizenship; (e) 
recreation; and (f) religion? 


36 


11. 


12. 


PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


. Show how the impersonality and complexity of the Great Society have 


raised all but insoluble problems in the realms of industry, pclitics, 
and religion. 


. How do folkways come into existence? Are they good or evil? How 


are they changed? 

What are the advantages and disadvantages of imposing the folk- 
ways of one generation on the succeeding generation? 

It has been remarked that the folkways are the product of intelli- 
gence and at the same time the negation of intelligence. Explain this 
paradox. 


PROBLEM 4 


WHY HAS SOCIETY ESTABLISHED THE SCHOOL 
TO PROMOTE EDUCATION? 


How universal is the process of education? — Why is informal education 
adequate in primitive society? — When did informal education become 
inadequate? — Why did formal education precede the school? — For what 
ends were the first formal educational agencies established? — How did the 
initiation ceremony foreshadow universal education? — How did the 
development of language affect education? — How has the growth of the 
Great Society made necessary a new and wider conception of education?— 
How has the formal educational agency become differentiated? — What 
advantages may the school environment possess over a chance environment? 
— What dangers commonly accompany the formal institution? — How 
may these dangers be mitigated? — What must be the foundations of a 
sound educational program? 


How universal is the process of education? As an indi- 
vidual process, education in its wider sense has existed since 
the appearance of the first organism possessing the property 
of learning. As a social process, education has existed since 
organisms possessing this property first associated in groups. 
Man has therefore experienced the process of education 
throughout his long career upon the earth. Wherever man 
reacts to some inadequacy in his environment, wherever 
man is subject to the influence of his fellows, the process of 
education advances. In a word, all living men are being 
educated. Depending on the operation of factors internal 
or external to the organism, here the process moves forward 
rapidly and there slowly. 

Why is informal education adequate in primitive society? 
During the early history of mankind, education was directed 
by no conscious purpose. As a by-product of living, each 
individual born into the world gradually acquired those 
forms of adjustment necessary in the relatively simple en- 


38 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


vironment of his age. The young accompanied the parent 
as the latter moved about in search of edible roots or succu- 
lent berries, a wounded animal or a stranded fish. There 
were no highly specialized skills associated with the securing 
of food, nor were there complex processes involved in its 
preparation. Likewise, as with food, no specialized skills 
were demanded to satisfy the needs for shelter and clothing. 
Life was raw, simple, and direct. ‘The acquisitions of the 
race were not many, and the action-system was not greatly 
extended beyond that of the higher animals. The adults 
were not conscious of the process of teaching, and the young 
acquired the little there was to be learned as they at an 
early age sought food, shelter, and clothing to satisfy their 
own organic cravings. Unaware of the process, they learned 
from the older members of the group and from the harder 
school of individual experience. 

When did informal education become inadequate? As 
social life became more complex, as successive generations 
added to the stock of skills and ideas: as man learned to 
control fire and apply it to the satisfaction of his wants; to 
fabricate robes, coats, and shoes to shield himself from the 
winds and frosts of winter; to construct traps, knives, and 
spears to increase and stabilize the food-supply; to fashion 
pots, kettles, and baskets to be used in cooking and trans- 
portation; to use the rudiments of speech as the basic instru- 
ment of thought and social codperation, —as all these 
precious secrets were wrested one by one from nature, it 
became increasingly necessary for the adult members of the 
group to give explicit attention to the process of tuition lest 
some of the group-acquisitions be lost. When the first 
parent, with conscious intent, slowed up the productive 
process in order to facilitate and perfect the learning of the 
child, the beginnings of formal education were made. Edu- 
cation then became an end to which the more immediate 


THE SCHOOL 89 


demands of existence were subordinated. Under these con- 
ditions there was no clear line of cleavage between incidental 
and formal education. As the boy accompanied his father 
on a hunting expedition, or as the girl took part with her 
mother in the dressing and curing of game, these two forms 
of education went on side by side or in alternation. 

Why did formal education precede the school? For 
ages the entire education of the young was gained through 
this participation in the life of the group. But during this 
period, without the assistance of any formal or specialized 
educational agency, the maturer members gave an ever in- 
creasing amount of attention and effort to the process of 
instruction. The conscious direction of learning greatly 
antedated the rise of the formal institution. ‘There is a law 
of social evolution that the worth of a function must be 
demonstrated through the services of an unspecialized 
agency before a specialized agency is brought into existence 
in the social order. 

Moreover, the beginnings of education may be traced 
back to that generalized and undifferentiated source of all 
institutions, the primitive family, which performed all the 
functions necessary to the maintenance of social life. With 
its limited membership this small group could not establish 
a special agency for the performance of any special function, 
since the only possible division of labor was that which fol- 
lowed the line of sex. Any further differentiation waited 
upon the expansion of the group; and expansion, in turn, 
was dependent on the development of a technique to in- 
crease the food supply. So long as the social group re~ 
mained small, however necessary the education of the 
immature may have appeared, it was quite impossible to 
devote the entire services of one of its few members to this 
special task. Such a differentiation of function would have 
involved the direction to this purpose of more of the energy 


40 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


of the group than could well be spared. The force of this 
argument is apparent when we consider that, even in our 
own extraordinarily wealthy society, we find it a burden to 
dedicate the talents of but one in a hundred of our number 
exclusively to the enterprise of education. 

For what ends were the first formal educational agencies 
established? Probably the earliest manifestation of a 
formal educational agency with a conscious educational 
purpose centered around those individuals, of superior skill 
and knowledge, to whom the group had become accustomed 
to turn in times of crisis for its defense and perpetuation. 
A warrior or hunter of uncommon courage and skill was ex- 
pected to give instruction not only to his own sons, but also 
to the sons of his kinsmen; and the matron of exceptional 
proficiency in the arts of the home and peace was called 
upon to serve the group by giving its daughters tuition in 
the deft performance of those duties allotted to her sex. 

But it seems probable that the most systematic and 
thorough efforts at transmitting the acquisitions of the 
group to the younger generation grew up around religious 
belief and practice. Through this division of the social in- 
heritance, surprisingly elaborate and intricate even among 
the most primitive of peoples, man sought to determine the 
course of events in the world of sense by influencing through 
prayer, sacrifice, threat, or cajolery, the spirits and powers 
of an unseen world —a world which his primitive mind 
postulated as lying back of andcontrolling all the phenomena 
of nature. Here was a body of tradition that was looked 
upon as immeasurably precious, for it was thought to give 
control over those happenings, which though vital to group 
welfare, were not directly amenable to human influence. 
Through these practices they fondly thought to become 
masters of their own fate: to control the forces of life and 
death, to increase the number of their children and defer the 


THE SCHOOL 41 


approach of age, to check the ravages of disease and pro- 
mote the blessings of health, to forestall the visits of famine 
and insure an abundance of food, to soften the rigors of 
winter and bring the warmth of spring, to determine the 
issue of battle and shape the ends of peace, and to give their 
souls safe convoy to a land of eternal bliss. 

Little wonder that this heritage, so freighted with power . 
over good and evil, was guarded with the most jealous care. 
Little wonder that there gradually evolved an order of spe- 
cialists whose sole business was to preserve this lore and, 
through its use, to promote the welfare of the group. In the 
hands of the specialist, whether priest, shaman, medicine- 
man, or magician, this body of tradition was gradually elab- 
orated and consequently became, in yet greaver measure, 
the unique possession of a class. This made necessary the 
formal organization of instruction about certain callings 
intimately associated with the life of the group. In one way 
or another, provision was made for the selection of promis- 
ing youth who, under the direct tuition of the elders, were 
trained to discharge this important and esoteric social func- 
tion. Out of this situation emerge the beginnings of pro- 
fessional training. 

How did the initiation ceremony foreshadow universal 
education? The earliest formal educational agencies affect- 
ing directly the entire membership of the group were in a 
sense complementary to those agencies which were pro- 
vided for the training of its leaders. Side by side with the 
development of the latter there appeared a considerable 
variety of ceremonies to which all the members of the group 
were submitted. Whether designed for the younger or 
older members, the great object of these ceremonies was 
social control. Certain of them, serving to initiate the 
youth into the fuller and wider life of the adult, were models 
of solemnity and were calculated to convey to the initiate 


42 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


the impression that the authority of the group, the authority 
of its customs, and the authority of its leaders, were abso- 
lute and binding on all its members. ‘The entire proceed- 
ings bore a sanction that transcended the limits set by a 
single generation. Through feasting, fasting, fatigue, and 
elaborate ceremonial, and through appeal to supernatural 
sanction, the whole initiation was enveloped in an emo- 
tional mist that inhibited the process of thinking. Involv- 
ing but little intellectual content and no thorough mastery 
of any tools of knowledge, this special form of exoteric edu- 
cation was directed to moral and social ends. ‘Transmitting 
unchanged the inheritance of the group, this form of tuition 
stressed the great passive virtues of undivided loyalty and 
unswerving obedience. While a powerful conservative force 
in society, and necessary for group survival under the hard 
conditions of the time, it was undoubtedly a serious ob- 
stacle to change and progress. 

How did the development of language affect education? 
With the refinement of the mechanisms of speech, by means 
of which increasingly delicate shades of meaning could be 
conveyed from one individual to another, and with the ex- 
tension of the powers of speech through space and time by 
the invention of writing, the development of formal educa- 
tional agencies was greatly stimulated. No longer depend- 
ent for their transmission on oral speech, the traditions, 
laws, and customs of the group were worked into clay, 
stone, or papyrus, and thereby given a permanence and an 
inflexibility which were previously lacking. The variable 
elements of individual experience and the imperfection of 
transmission, so long as dependence on oral speech is com- 
plete, are certain to change both the form and the meaning, 
the letter and the spirit, of that which is handed down. But 
with the invention of writing, the dead hand of the past 
takes a firmer grip on the present and the written word 


THE SCHOOL 43 


becomes sacred. The natural conservatism of a primitive 
race drives it to find’refuge in the thoughts, struggles, and 
achievements of past generations whose leaders become 
gods and humblest members demigods. Under these con- 
ditions education tends to become a worship of scripture, 
both error and truth are dressed in identical garb, and the 
folkways are hardened into a Medieval Europe or an His- 
toric China. In such a world may be observed the perfect 
and final expression of the spirit of the initiation ceremony 
of the savage tribe. 

The development of speech and writing, however, in- 
fluenced education in other ways. The integration of man- 
kind into those larger groups, in which great differentiation 
of structure and function is possible, was dependent on 
improved methods of recording and transmitting thought. 
The size of a group is definitely limited by the stage reached 
in the development of the means of communication. Ina 
very real sense the modern world is built upon writing and 
reading. ‘Thus, while the invention of writing was super- 
ficially conservative, seeming but to perpetuate the estab- 
lished order, it was fundamentally radical. Writing is the 
sine qua non for an enlarged social life, and ultimately the 
solvent of its own conservatism. This invention did much 
more than make possible the rigorous teaching and learning 
of the content of scripture; in time it made necessary the 
teaching of reading and writing. And, since these arts are 
not easily acquired, society was compelled to establish spe- 
cial agencies for the purpose of ensuring their acquisition. 

At first the social need was met by training a few spe- 
cialists to do all the reading and writing required by the 
group — to keep the records, to send and interpret messages, 
to make, transcribe, and decipher important documents. 
But even this limited use of written language promoted that 
widening of the group and that complex organization of the 


AA PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


political and economic life which in turn created an in- 
creased need for both reading and writing. This was a 
_potent factor fostering the growth of the formal educational 
agency. With the passage of time, civilization becomes so 
dependent on written language that every fully functioning 
member of society is forced to master the rudiments of the 
literary arts. The ordinary tasks of life come to require the 
acquisition of the elementary phases of reading, writing, and 
arithmetic. ‘Thus the school for the masses has naturally 
placed its great emphasis on the mastery of the tools of 
knowledge. And these arts have so placed their stamp on 
the school, and even on the idea of education, that to the 
uncritical mind to-day education is identified with literacy 
and book learning. 

How has the growth of the Great Society made necessary 
a new and wider conception of education? This narrow 
conception of education and of the function of the school is 
undergoing rapid modification in the modern world. It no 
longer meets the educational needs of social life. On an 
ever-increasing scale those very forces, which in primitive 
times created the initiation ceremony and in a later age the 
reading and writing school, continue in operation. The life 
of the group is renewed from generation to generation, but 
always on a more complicated pattern, always with an en- 
larged experience. Consequently the generation that re- 
quired only to be taught to read and write and figure has 
given place to one that must be introduced to the life of 
society In many of its aspects through the medium of a 
carefully prepared environment. Society has become a 
vast and intricate mechanism. At many points, its proper 
functioning requires the long and careful training of its 
members. 

The world of to-day is based not only on reading and 
writing and arithmetic, but also on a great body of tested 


THE SCHOOL Ad 


and refined experience regarding the working of the various 
forces which condition human existence. Man has evolved 
a method of studying this world which has created the ever- 
growing sciences of physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, 
and sociology. From this body of refined and organized 
knowledge there flows to the race a constantly increasing 
number of benefits. In recent centuries man has learned 
that the world in which he lives is but a tiny speck in an un- 
measured universe, and not the major and central part of 
creation; he has discovered that the history of the world can 
be measured only in geologic ages, and not in generations of 
men; he has found that he lives in a world of law, and not in 
a world of caprice. To this new world, this large world, this 
complex world, the child, without expert guidance and 
merely as an incident to the satisfaction of his own wants, 
can no longer make his adjustments. 

Moreover, because of the development of the factory, the 
city, and the State, certain non-specialized educational 
agencies, such as the home, the community, and the church, 
which in the past have borne large educational burdens, are 
losing much of their vitality. And with the growth of our 
knowledge of psychology and with the clearer formulation 
of social ideals, attention has gradually come to focus on 
education as a means to the reconstruction of individual and 
social life. The school is thus gradually becoming a spe- 
cialized environment through which every individual must 
pass, if he is to render the largest service to his fellows and 
enjoy to the full the advantages of life in the Great Society. 

How has the formal educational agency become differ- 
entiated? We have now passed in brief review those forces 
working in human society which make necessary the estab- 
lishment of this specialized institution known as the school. 
We have seen how the perpetuation of the group has always 
required that the new generation be educated by the old, 


46 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION © 


and how, as society has grown more complex and increased 
its acquisitions, the educational function has been gradually 
given over in increasing measure to this special agency. 
To the two-fold task of guarding the interests of the group 
and assisting the individual in his efforts to adjust himself to 
the environment this agency has been dedicated. So far has 
this development proceeded that to-day a school is associ- 
ated with almost every complex activity found in the life of 
society. There are the common schools, emphasizing the 
universal needs of men, to which all are admitted; there 
are differentiated schools for those following specialized oc- 
cupations — schools for cooks and clergymen, for farmers 
and teachers, for salesmen and nurses, and, according to a 
recent press dispatch, a school for burglars in one of our 
large cities. It has even been thought necessary in our 
colleges to give hours of theoretical instruction in some 
classroom far removed from the gridiron to the athletes who 
compose the football squad. In view of the rapid rise of 
these specialized educational agencies we may well consider 
the merits and demerits of formal education. 

What advantages may the school environment possess 
over a chance environment? The school is a specialized 
environment in which the child is placed. It cannot in the 
original sense create powers. At most the school serves as 
an instrument for the selective stimulation of the powers 
already inherent in the child. There are three primary ad- 
vantages of this environment of design over an environment 
of chance which have been suggested by Dewey. In the 
first place, at least for the earlier years of childhood, it is a 
simplified environment from which the more difficult and 
complex aspects of the adult world have been removed. 
The child, if introduced directly into the larger life of the 
Great Society, would be overwhelmed. This is true in some 
measure in even the simplest and most primitive societies. 


THE SCHOOL A” 


In the second place, it is a purified environment, from which 
the harsh and corrupt practices of social life have been ban- 
ished. There is much in any society, which certainly does 
not merit perpetuation. In the third place, it is a broad- 
ened environment through which the individual may derive 
perspective for evaluating and passing judgment on the af- 
fairs of his group. Into the school may be concentrated all 
the experiences of the race which history records, as well as 
the customs, knowledges, and ideals of the various peoples 
inhabiting the earth to-day. A fourth advantage, although 
a corollary of Dewey’s first principle, should be mentioned. 
The school is a graduated environment, which is consciously 
organized in such a way as to facilitate the process of adjust- 
ment. Since these activities are arranged in a graded series 
the individual is led, step by step, from the simple experi- 
ences of childhood to the complexities of adult life. Each of 
these features of the school has played an important part in 
securing the support of society. 

What dangers commonly accompany the formal institu- 
tion? But these advantages are apt to be accompanied by 
two dangers which always attend the development of a 
specialized institution, and which manifest themselves in 
full strength in the educational agency. In the first place, 
the school may become isolated from the rest of life, and 
lose touch with the world of men and things. Particularly, 
among social institutions, has the school tended to become 
highly artificial, so artificial indeed that at times it has not 
only failed to promote adjustment to the actual conditions 
of life but has even increased the difficulties attending the 
process. Taking place in a natural medium, incidental and 
informal education always manifests a genuineness and ex- 
hibits a directness that formal education so frequently lacks. 
While the latter may give the impression of an adventitious 
and external acquisition, the former is made an integral 


48 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


part of one’s personality and tends to become second 
nature. 

In the second place, because of the resistance to change 
on the part of the vested interests within itself, the school 
may block the way of progress. The teacher, always 
taught in a school of an earlier generation, tends to per- 
petuate the knowledges and skills that he was taught; he 
opposes quite naturally any important change in either 
method of presentation or materials of instruction. Such 
a change is pernicious because it interferes with his routine, 
and even destroys a part of his working capital! Whenever 
society establishes an institution, it creates a structure that 
resists change, it gives a hostage to things as they are; and, 
while this institution at the time of its inception may repre- 
sent an advance over the past, it may also be an obstacle 
to further achievement. If its functioning requires a class 
of specialists whose security in the social order is contingent 
on its perpetuation, this reactionary tendency becomes 
especially pronounced. As Todd has remarked, throughout 
the history of education the school has never wholly on its 
own initiative introduced a single subject into the curri- 
culum. 

How may these dangers be mitigated? For these ills to 
which the formal educational agency is subject, no simple 
remedy has been discovered. Although their virulence and 
frequency of attack may be greatly reduced, they probably 
can never be wholly banished. The great desideratum, and 
all for which we may legitimately hope, is the maximum 
advantage and the minimum disadvantage attainable in a 
special agency. Artificiality, the basic evil of formal edu- 
cation, is amenable to treatment. ‘Those features of inci- 
dental and informal education, that are not indissolubly 
linked with the unspecialized environment, must be intro- 
duced into the school. Unless the child feels the genuine- 


THE SCHOOL 49 


ness of the activity in which he engages, unless that activity 
is charged with meaning to him, unless it comes within the 
range of his life and interests, it is difficult to make the 
process truly educative. In so far as this vital element 
fails to be introduced into the work of the school the final 
outcome of its ministrations, however glibly its victims 
may repeat the formule of the classroom, can be nothing 
more than sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. Only to 
the degree that the pupil enters wholeheartedly into the life 
of the school and reacts vigorously to its curriculum, will 
the aims of education be fulfilled. 

The second great evil towards which the school is in- 
clined, is that of making adjustments to the world of the 
dead rather than to the world of the living. Since the days 
of the initiation ceremony formal education has perpetuated 
the folkways. In them the group has always had supreme 
confidence, and through them the group has always exerted 
its authority. Two great attributes of the folkways are 
fixity and finality. In them therefore we see the negation 
of progress —a deep-seated mistrust of that process of 
continuous change upon which the advance of mankind 
depends. ‘These practices of course, have always contained 
much of worldly wisdom, but they are very imperfect and 
in constant need of revision. ‘They are foreign to the genius 
of education; they are far too rigid to render the highest 
service in the world of to-day. Our attitude towards them 
must undergo radical alteration. We need a new type of 
education — an education that recognizes frankly the 
temporary nature of all that is. Whatever may have been 
the conditions of primitive life, or of the life of the day before 
yesterday, we are certain that the world of the present is 
moving. We know of a surety that in another generation 
the conditions of human life on the earth will be greatly 
changed through an application of the logic of inventions 


50 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


already made and of others certain to follow; but what the 
aspect of this new world will be in detail nobody knows, the 
guess of the stupid being only less trustworthy than that 
of the wise. 

The educator of to-day, as he faces this situation, could 
learn much from the ways of nature. She, having wrought 
into the organism certain fixed modes of response to life’s 
conditions and discovering the limitations of such a form of 
adaptation, may be said to have turned her attention to the 
much more difficult but fruitful task of creating an adjusta- 
ble mechanism capable of gradually working out adapta- 
tions to varied and changing situations. ‘The same meth- 
odology must be exhibited by that serviceable education 
which would adapt man to the world of to-morrow. In- 
stead of being perfectly adjusted to any particular en- 
vironment, his educational equipment should be made as 
flexible as possible. Rather than stress perfect adjustment, 
we should emphasize perfect adjustability. In the world of 
the future the individual will require many habits, but hab- 
its that serve rather than habits that govern. Thus, by 
placing trust in his extraordinary gift of intelligence, man 
will reverse the process of education in its beginnings, and, 
by bending his energies to the removal of obstacles blocking 
his progress, move forward to a happier world. 

What must be the foundations of a sound educational 
program? In the past the development of education has 
proceeded in response to the more immediate and pressing 
demands of the environment. As a rule the shaping of 
educational policy and institutions has not rested on a 
thorough consideration of educational needs. Society has 
usually provided for no more education than was required 
by the dictates of convention and the demands of powerful 
interests. In actual practice its possibilities as a great posi- 
tive social force have seldom been recognized. Our own 


THE SCHOOL 51 


educational system, with its varied forms and activities, has 
grown up without design; in very large measure it is a pro- 
duct of the blind give and take of circumstance. Institu- 
tions which originated for one purpose have been turned to 
the achievement of others. At no time have we exhibited a 
strong educational consciousness; never have we vigorously 
and wholemindedly set ourselves to the task of bringing 
education into relation with modern life. But, if the school is 
to render that very exceptional service to society which lies 
latent within it to-day, this task must be undertaken. With- 
out delay we should seek the formulation of an educational 
program bold in its conception and humane in its outlook. 

This program must be based on patient study of the 
nature of the individual and of society. It should be so 
shaped as to take into strict account the forces which condi- 
tion the growth of the human organism from birth to ma- 
turity. Taking its departure from the inborn equipment of 
man, it must seek, in accordance with the laws of his devel- 
opment, to bring into being an individual educated to par- 
ticipate effectively and sympathetically in the social life of 
his time. This program must consequently reflect the so- 
cial situation in which man is placed to-day. We may ad- 
vantageously think of human activities as centering about 
six great interests — health, family, industry, citizenship, 
recreation, and religion. ‘Through a balanced participation 
in all of these six fields of activity the nature of the individ- 
ual finds fulfillment; and, through the gradual perfecting of 
these interests, the race moves onward. Hence an educa- 
tion that is related to life, an education that is life, must in- 
troduce man to these activities, for they are life. In the 
three remaining divisions of this volume we shall attempt a 
somewhat elaborate analysis of man and society, and then 
draw in broad outline the educational program suggested by 
this analysis. 


52 


15. 


16. 


PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


. Hlastrate from your own experience powers socially acquired: (1) 


without any conscious attempt at teaching on the part of others; (2) 
through the efforts of others outside any formal educational agency; 
(3) through the instrumentality of the school. 


. Why is there an intimate relation between the growth of culture and 


the duration of education? Why would a twelve-year period of formal 
education have been an absurdity under primitive social conditions? 


. How has the steady growth of culture made increasingly necessary 


the education of specialists? 


. Why in modern society has education for leadership been supple- 


mented by some form of education for all? 


. Justify the statement that the process of formal education is the 


“initiation ceremony of the Great Society.”’ 


. How has the growth of culture been dependent on the development of 


oral and written speech? Show how this development has rendered 
inadequate the methods of incidental education. 


. Explain in detail the meaning of Dewey’s statement that the school 


is a simplified, a purified, and a broadened environment. 


. What in your own educational experience justifies the statement that 


the school is artificial in its methods and motivation, and conservative 
in its administration and influence? 


. On what grounds would you defend the introduction of any particular 


subject into the curriculum of the elementary school? 


. Why are the more advanced countries moving towards the goal of 


extending secondary education to all children? 


. What are the educational functions which the college, as a selective 


and formal agency, should perform? 


. Why from the earliest times has professional education made exacting 


demands on the formal agencies? Why has the number of profes- 
sional occupations been greatly increased during the last century? 


. How are the methods of education employed in the school superior to 


those used in incidental education? 


. Comment on the statement made by Bernard Shaw that “He who 


can, does; he who cannot, teaches.”’ 
Justify the statement of H. G. Wells that the teacher is the most 


important person in society. 
What may be said for and against the proposition that the State 
should support education by public taxation and control it through 


its representatives? 


PART TWO 


WHAT ARE THE PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDA- 
TIONS OF EDUCATION ? 


Man owes the favored position which he occupies in the animal kingdom 
and in the world to his inheritance of a peculiar array of reflexes, instincts 
and capacities. These inborn tendencies, by making him extremely sensi- 
tive to small differences in environmental stimulation, cause him to lead a 
restless, inquisitive and creative existence. Due to the interplay of these 
inborn tendencies with environmental forces, habits eventuate which 
modify later behavior.» This modifiability conditions versatility. As 
behavior becomes dependent on the higher forms of habit integration 
involving the symbolism of language, the adaptive process termed thought 
or reflection is predominant. Adequate adjustment demands reaction to 
the more remote social implications of the situation, implications which 
can only be manifest to the thinker. As a result of habit formation and 
reflection in the countless experiences of life, man’s behavior becomes 
modified almost beyond the limits of recognition. Particularly the ap- 
proval and disapproval of his fellows mould his conduct to a social form. 
The results of these experiences are reflected in personality or character. 
Naturally so complicated an experience is liable to show abnormalities 
which manifest themselves in unbalanced or anti-social conduct. Effective 
guidance of the learning process requires a prolonged period of guardian- 
ship, in which the child is freed from the more pressing economic demands. 
Physiological infancy covers ten to fifteen years, but social infancy may in 
modern society cover a third of the span of life. The nature of the guid- 
ance and education given during this period is the outstanding problem of 
society, because upon education hangs the fate of civilization. This prob- 
lem is much complicated by the diverse activities and occupations of 
modern life, and by the great differences in original capacities possessed by 
men. ‘To adjust the multiform varieties of human talent to the multiform 
activities and opportunities of life, and by so doing to satisfy each indi- 
vidual and advance the common good, is the highest service each succeed- 
ing generation can render to the generation which it begets. 


An understanding of the psychological foundations of education requires 
the discussion of the following problems: 


Prostem 5. How 1s Epucation CONDITIONED BY ORIGINAL NATURE? 

ProsuteEM 6. How 1s EpucatTion ConDITIONED BY Haxsit ForRMATION? 

ProspLeM 7. How 1s EpucatTion CoNDITIONED BY LANGUAGE? 

Proptem 8. How 1s Epucation CoNDITIONED BY REFLECTION? 

ProsLtemM 9. How pores PERSONALITY EMERGE THROUGH EDUCATION? 

PrRoBLEM 10. How 1s EpucatTion CoNDITIONED BY PROLONGED GUARD- 
IANSHIP? 

ProspieM 11. How 1s EpucaTIon CONDITIONED BY INDIVIDUAL DIFFER- 
ENCES? 


PROBLEM 5 


HOW IS EDUCATION CONDITIONED BY ORIGINAL 
NATURE? 


How does man’s behavior reflect his inner drives? — How do these inborn 
tendencies differ in complexity? — Why is it so difficult to catalogue these 
inborn tendencies? — What common errors vitiate the ordinary classifica- 
tion? — What réle do the emotions play? — What is the relation of instinct 
to consciousness? — How may an instinct be described? — Why is it 
difficult to isolate the instinctive element in behavior? — What is the 
simplest picture of human motivation? — What factors complicate final 
behavior? — How is education conditioned by original nature? — How 
may the rdéle of instinct be overemphasized? 


How does man’s behavior reflect his inner drives? (Man 
spends all his days in a valiant struggle to satisfy his im- 
perious wants. On entering the world the first inner ten- 
sion is relieved by crying; he eats, drinks, fights, loves, 
mates, and thinks, to relieve other tensions; and on his 
death bed, in the act of blessing his family, he relieves a last 
tension. The play is meaningless unless interpreted in 
terms of desire, appetite, yearning, and passion.) To explain 
human action as an environmental moulding of a sluggish, 
inert, and passive individual is to misread the whole process. 
Only because man is so helpless at birth, and because so 
many of his powers are latent, has this strange idea found 
a foothold in the popular mind. Man’s nature is not to be 
compared with a mass of putty in th the hands of the } moulder. 
It has dynamic properties whereby it nypals itself; it is not 
like the elements of the inorganic world, “ kicked around ” 
by external forces. Rather is it to be likened to an explo- 
sive compound which, unless carefully handled and studied, 
is liable at any moment to dissipate itself and damage its 
surroundings. What are these inborn dynamic properties 


56 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


which, under the stimulation of the material and social en- 
vironment, quicken, agitate, and make effervescent the 
process of living? 

What are the inborn dynamic properties of man? Were 
it possible to answer this question by saying that man in- 
herits eight or ten perfectly distinct tendencies to react, 
just as he inherits two separate kidneys, our problem would 
be simple. We should then be able to catalogue these 
tendencies and, allowing for the effect of experience upon 
them, interpret all behavior in terms of their action and re- 
action upon one another. While such a simple presentation 
works for clarity, it conveys such an erroneous conception 
of the original equipment that the student must be guarded 
against it. Unfortunately the picture of the human me- 
chanism that we shall be compelled to draw will lack both 
the brevity and simplicity of this false teaching. 

Man is born into the world with a definite physiological 
structure. This structure contains mechanisms which 
cause him to make certain responses when he is submitted 
to various situations.) To these sets of structure, with their 
corresponding functional possibilities, the terms reflex and 
instinct have been applied. The colorless phrase — a set of 
the structure — gives a much truer account of the nature of 
the instinct than do the statements of many authors who 
write almost as though the instincts were disembodied forces 
which, by some miracle, control the behavior. Instincts 
only exist when some one is attending, feeling, or acting in a 
specific situation. The instingt.is the behavior. The ani- 
mistic terms we are bound to apply must not lead the reader 
away from this important point — the behavior is not in 
scientific literalness caused by the instinct; to postulate an 
instinct is only a convenient way of saying that here is a cer- 
tain set of structure, which, when stimulated, produces a 
certain type of behavior. (On account of these mechanisms 


ORIGINAL NATURE AND EDUCATION 57 


man will become hungry and cry for food, he will spit out 
any acid substance that is put into the mouth, he will regis- 
ter fear when suddenly dropped, anger when tightly held, he 
will utter strange sounds, he will seek the company of others, 
he will at a certain stage of his growth exhibit characteristic 
sex behavior, and so we might continue the list of typical 
activities. ) 

How do these inborn tendencies further adjustment? 
There can be no question that these responses to stimula- 
tion of the environment and to stimulation from inside the 
organism itself, by relieving tensions which arise in the 
body, serve in general to ee the life process. Only be- 
cause man is endowe ountless 
which are capable aes modified by Ce oeeane 


to adjust himself to hisenvironment. To a consideration of 


SMEAR EH I 





demas nL TE Da ROE 


these fundamental mechanisms attention must now be 
directed. | 

How do these inborn tendencies differ in complexity? A 
cursory examination of the behavior of a young child reveals 
the fact that there are great differences in the number and 
complexity of the mechanisms which contribute to various 
characteristic types of action. Starting with a very simple 
type, such as that found in the closing of the eye on the near 
approach of an object, we may note that the minor mechan- 
isms which contribute to such a response are relatively few 
in number and fixed in manner of operation. Such a com- 
bination of mechanisms is called a reflex. In a less simple 
type of behavior, such as that shown by a young child when 
made thoroughly angry, many more minor mechanisms are 
required to bring about the response, and this response is 
not so fixed as that found in reflex action. Tosucha group- 
ing of Jnechanisms which, when Balecustelyh stimulated, 


nee 


58 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


Instinct, rigorously defined, is a complex response de- 
termined wholly by inherited structure. As such a descrip- 
tion of the reflex and instinct clearly shows, there is no sharp 
line of demarcation which divides the two. The reflex 
involves but comparatively few mechanisms, while the in- 
stinct requires the functioning and integrating of a large 
number of smaller reaction units. ‘These response integra- 
tions are dependent on an inherited pattern in the reaction 
system which serves as the physiological basis of the instinct. 
Under appropriate stimulation the instinct reveals itself: 
in a series of activities which, in their manifestation, follow 
a definite order. The nature and order of these activities 
are independent of experience. In the language of McDou- 
gall, the presence of the instinct causes the individual, with- 
out training, to attend to certain objects of the environment, 
to feel in a certain way towards these objects, and to react to 
them in a characteristic manner. It is the presence of the 
instinct that lowers the threshold of stimulation. To at- 
tempt to explain why the child becomes angry when tightly 
held is as stupid as it is futile to wonder why the dog is so 
violent in his reactions to the rat and so apathetic to the 
frog. The answer to both of these questions must be found 
in certain hereditary pattern reactions. 

Why is it so difficult to catalogue these inborn tenden- 
cies? That man inherits a repertoire of reflexes and in- 
stincts, and that all his future powers evolve from modifi- 
cations and elaborations of this repertoire, every one in 
practice agrees. But as to the exact cataloguing of this 
repertoire there is the greatest difference of opinion. To see 
how inevitable is this disagreement as to what constitutes 
the instinctive equipment of man is not difficult. As we 
have already stated, the body is the seat of a host of reaction 
mechanisms. An infinite mind studying human behavior 
would clearly recognize and definitely label each one of these 


ORIGINAL NATURE AND EDUCATION 59 


behavior-patterns. Such a mind, because of its ability to 
grasp each of these mechanisms separately and in its rela- 
tions, would not have to resort, as the finite mind must, to 
the expedient of grouping certain of these reaction units 
together and attaching definite names to these somewhat 
arbitrary arrangements. ‘There would be no need, except 
in the interests of economy, to speak of the instinct of flight, 
the instinct of fighting, the instinct of curiosity, etc., for 
these tendencies would be thought of in terms of the be- 
havior-units from which they are built. 

What common errors vitiate the ordinary classification? 
If this were possible, the two following errors would be 
avoided which at the present moment are made by many 
educational and social psychologists: 

(1) The error of regarding the instinct as a definite iso- 
lated entity, and not as an arbitrary grouping of 
certain forms of reaction; and 

(2) The error of supposing that many forms of behavior 
are manifestations of the instinct in its unmodified 
form, while, in reality the behavior is partly the re- 
sult of habit formation. 

The first error is exhibited by the psychologists who, disre- 
garding the fact that only to arbitrary groupings of mechan- 
isms, resulting in certain general forms of behavior, may the 
terms flight, repulsion, curiosity, etc., be assigned, furnish a 
perfectly definite and final list of supposedly easily isolated 
instincts. Thus each writer furnishes a very different list of 
what he is pleased to term the fundamental instincts of man. 

This simple and obvious fact accounts for the wide dis- 
crepancies in the lists furnished by various authors. One 
will explain behavior on the basis of three wide instincts, 
such as sex, herd, and self, while another will furnish a list 
covering a number of pages. Both are viewing the same 
mechanism, and their analyses are both made in the attempt 


60 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION ~ 


to classify human conduct; one has made a very general 
analysis of the behavior machine, while the other has em- 
barked on a description of the smaller contributing mechan- 
isms. 

How detailed, then, should the analysis be? Convenience 
and the specific purpose for which the analysis is being made 
must determine the answer. The analysis must not be so 
general as to furnish an inadequate basis for an understand- 
ing of the complexity of original behavior; on the other 
hand, it must not be so detailed as to hamper the explana- 
tory process. It is as absurd to describe man’s original be- 
havior in terms of a single instinct of sex as to explain it in 
terms of the interaction of a thousand tendencies. There is 
a happy mean and, for convenience of thought, this mean 
should veer in the direction of a list of tendencies sufficiently 
few in number to make each one fairly inclusive in its scope. 

The second error is so universal that it has made the term 
instinct one of the loosest in psychological literature. In 
the study of all save the youngest children it is impossible to 
say just what is original and what is acquired in any re- 
sponse. Instinct is, when used strictly, a most definite con- 
cept. Rigidly defined, it is a tendency, apart from all train- 
ing, to attend to certain objects, to feel in a certain way 
towards these objects, and to act in a characteristic manner 
towards them. The difficulty resides in the statement 
“apart from all training.”” A child cannot be brought up 
an vacuo, and so there is room for endless and fruitless dis- 
cussion as to whether a particular reaction observed at any 
time is original, or a slight modification of original tenden- 
cles. 

How may these tendencies be conveniently classified? 
We shall avoid both errors by the following statement. 
With the minimum of stimulation afforded by the simplest 
environment, every individual will exhibit, in varying de- 


ORIGINAL NATURE AND EDUCATION 61 


grees, behavior-phenomena indicative of tendencies ! which 
may roughly and arbitrarily be classified as follows: 


TENDENCIES ACCOMPANYING EMOTIONAL 

STATES 

To fight Anger 

To flee, or be paralyzed Fear 

To mate Lust 

To be self-assertive Arrogance 

To be submissive Humility 

To be curious Wonder 

To be repulsed Disgust 

To cherish Tenderness 

To seek the company of others Sociability 


Because this classification is designed to form the basis of an understand- 
ing of complex conduct, it does not include excretion, such tendencies as 
those accompanying the simpler organic processes of breathing, seeking food, 
drink, warmth, etc.; nor is mention made of the tendencies to vocalize 
which manifest themselves as part of so many of the other tendencies, and 
from which evolve the delicate language mechanisms upon which com- 
munication of thought and thought itself become so intimately dependent. 


No one is in a position to state, with ref any—of 
these forms of behavior, what precisely is the contributicn 
of of origin imal nature a and what has been n_ superimposed | by the 





experience of the ind ial. Nor can this debatable point 
be settled here; it is sufficient to call attention to the fact 
that there are groups of mechanisms corresponding to each 
one of these tendencies which are called forth by the appro- 
priate internal or external stimulus. These tendencies, 
when each is interpreted widely, furnish a list which is rea- 
sonably useful in classifying human behavior. 

What réle do the emotions play? So far, merely a passing 


1The descriptive terms covering these tendencies, and particularly the 
emotional states, are extremely vague and misleading unless the reader 
realizes that they are taken ready-made from a language which has read 
into each a wealth of meaning and intellectual significance which is neces- 
sarily absent in the term as used of an original or “near-original”’ 
tendency. 


J 


62 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


mention has been made of the emotional state which ac- 
companies the stimulation of these tendencies. We have 
called attention to the fact that a particular tendency not 
only causes the individual to pay attention to a particular 
type of stimulation, and to make certain observable reac- 
tions as a result of this stimulation, but, we have also stated 
that a characteristic feeling accompanies the process. 
These emotions are to be traced to sensations aroused by 
the bodily changes which follow directly upon the stimula- 
tion. Thus, when an individual is aroused to a state of an- 
ger, within the organism certain visceral tensions are set up 
and particular glandular secretions are called forth. These 
changes serve to brace the organism for the conflict. To 
the sensations which accompany these bodily changes the 
strong and characteristic feelings of anger must be traced. 
Furthermore these tensions, with their corresponding ele- 
ments In consciousness, serve to carry on the activity and to 
impart to it its specific drive. Were it not for these peculiar 
emotional disturbances life, if possible at all, would be lived 
or rather endured on a vegetative level. Man might derive 
benefit from the absence of certain harmful feelings attend- 
ing the arousal of fear and anger, but he would lose the joys 
and thrills which accompany the satisfaction of other tend- 
encies. ‘These emotional disturbances furnish the drive and 
serve as the motivation of the elaborate life-long process of 
habit formation upon which learning depends. In fact the 
chief function served by these tendencies in promoting ad- 
justment to a complex environment is to initiate activities 
which, through conflict, lead to new forms of behavior. 
How differentiated is emotional reaction? Whether the 
majority of these tendencies carry with them their own 
unique emotional state is a matter of dispute. We realize 
that when fighting we are angry, when fleeing we are afraid, 
when caressing and fondling we are experiencing tender 


ORIGINAL NATURE AND EDUCATION 63 


feelings, when mating we are moved by lust, etc. While 
certain of these emotional states have been carefully studied, 
our knowledge is very fragmentary and does not permit us 
to assume that each one of these tendencies has its own 
peculiar and separateemotional accompaniment. The work 
of Cannon and Watson would suggest that there are but few 
fundamental emotional reactions, prominent among which 
are love, rage, and fear. These, presumably, are com- 
pounded together in various proportions to form the particu- 
lar emotional state which the individual experiences when 
stimulated. 

What is the relation of instinct to consciousness? Hay- 
ing considered the emotional accompaniment of the excita- 
tion of an instinct, we should mention in passing the dispute 
that has arisen concerning the relation of consciousness to 
the instinctive process. This dispute is due to the twofold 
manner in which the term consciousness has been inter- 
preted. The instinctive process is certainly not conscious, 
if by this term we mean that the individual clearly antici- 
pates, when the behavior-pattern is first stimulated, the na- 
ture of the end or outcome of the act. On the other hand, it 
is distinctly conscious in the sense that there is a keen aware- 
ness of certain stimulation, and of the movements involved 
in the course of the instinctive action. In fact it may be 
said that consciousness is at its height at those times when 
certain of the more intense instincts are aroused. 

How may an instinct be described? ‘Jo return to the 
main issue, each one of these tendencies that we have listed 
impels its possessor to make certain characteristic responses 
to certain fairly definite types of internal and external stimu- 
lation, and it also impels him to make aggressive search for 
stimulation. In illustration of the former a few of the typi- 
cal situations and the characteristic responses which are 
connected with the manifestation of fear may be cited. 


G4 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


That the infant reacts to the situation created by “ being 
suddenly dropped,” or subjected to a “loud noise,” with 
many of the usual signs of fear is a well-established fact. 
Such a careful writer as Thorndike claims that “on the 
whole it seems likely that an unlearned tendency exists to 
respond by the physical and mental condition known as 
fear to the situation, thunder-storm, reptiles, large animal 
approaching one, certain vermin, darkness, and strange 
persons of unfriendly mien.” The more observable re- 
sponses in the case of this instinct are numerous, including 
running to cover, clutching, clinging, nestling, remaining 
stock still, being semi-paralyzed, falling down, raising the 
eyebrows, sweating, manifesting diminished action of the 
salivary glands, exhibiting erection of the hair, etc. Simi- 
larly each one of the other tendencies could be analyzed in 
terms of situations and responses. For such an account the 
student is referred to one of the standard text-books of 
psychology. 

Why is it difficult to isolate the instinctive element in 
behavior? Careful study of the situations and the responses 
which are listed by most authors as characteristic of any 
particular instinct raises the question to which reference has 
already been made. Is not the potency of a large number of 
these situations to be ascribed to the effects of experience? 
Is their potency not to be traced to acquired reaction- 
patterns rather than to truly original tendencies? Watson’s 
recent work on very young children seems to suggest that 
but few original situations are liable to cause fear, and that 
we must attribute the long list of supposedly original ex- 
citants of fear to the effects of learning and not to original 
nature. Just as the adult learns to be afraid of the dentist’s 
chair, so the child, under an environment which cannot fail 
to provide the adequate situations, learns to be afraid of 
animals, darkness, and crawling insects. In fact, owing to 


ORIGINAL NATURE AND EDUCATION 65 


the ready manner in which the individual learns, it is almost 
impossible to decide what is truly instinctive behavior. Un- 
less the particular reaction is observed on its first appear- 
ance and under conditions controlled with extreme care, 
when seen at a later time, it is already changed by experi- 
ence and has ceased to be truly instinctive in its nature. 
Most of the instincts about which the social and educational 
psychologists write, and to which they trace the motivation 
of human conduct, are not unalloyed instincts at all, but 
rather behavior-patterns created out of the original patterns 
by the effects of a simple environment — an environment 
so necessary to life that it may be regarded as being approxi- 
mately uniform for all individuals. To such combinations, 
which grow out of thé original instinct even in the simplest 
environments, the term “instinct-habit consolidation” has 
been aptly given. From many points of view it is of little 
practical concern whether a particular phase of behavior can 
be traced to the purely instinctive fear-mechanism or to the 
instinct-habit-fear consolidation. Certain it is that, at the 
age of five or six, most children will be afraid of other than 
original excitants of fear. ‘These instinct-habit consolida- 
tions, which appear to grow with the minimum stimulation 
out of the original instinct may, when they are once formed, 
be regarded as the raw material of education and be treated 
almost as if they were inborn. 

What is the simplest picture of human motivation? Bear- 
ing in mind the facts that we have just stated, we may now 
focus attention on the simple picture of the original equip- 
ment to which reference was made at the opening of the 
discussion. We may now, without fear of great error, con- 
ceive of man as possessing, and being driven through the 
stimulation of, the tendencies which we have listed as well as 
through other tendencies which escape the broad classifica- 
tion supplied by our list. Given the adequate situation, 


66 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


these tendencies not only carry the mechanism for their 
arousal, but also the necessary energy or drive to keep them 
in operation. 

What factors complicate final behavior? The complexity 

/ of man’s final behavior must be traced to three causes: 

(1) The large number of tendencies to action; 

(2) The modification through habit formation of these. 
separate tendencies from the standpoint of the situa- 
tion calling them forth, as well as from the standpoint 

a of the overt responses accompanying their excitation; 

(3) The interaction of these tendencies, due to an en- 
vironmental stimulation which is usually so complex 
as to call forth, at any particular time, many of these 
tendencies. 

At all times, in considering human behavior, it should be 
remembered that even under a narrow stimulation the whole 
organism reacts. Convenience necessitates isolation for 
purposes of thought, but the unity of the organism must 
never be forgotten. 

How does the process of modification take place? On 
account of certain instinctive tendencies man will, wholly 
without training, be made violently afraid by sudden and 
loud noises; he will exhibit curiosity in a brightly colored: 
object that is dangled before him; he will when roused fight 
in random fashion with his arms and legs. With a minimum 
of training he will show his fear of darkness and animals; he 
will direct his curiosity to all kinds of pictures; and he will 
readily learn to defend himself and attack others with an 
orderly system of arm-and-fist movements. If he is edu- 
cated carefully, he may be taught to be afraid of attractive 
and sparkling waters the purity of which is unknown; his. 
attention may be directed to a tedious and laborious re- 
search; and he may learn to fight his deadly enemy with the 
refined instruments of rhetoric and the slow process of the 


ORIGINAL NATURE AND EDUCATION 67 


law. Only as initially we can use the drive attaching to 
these original tendencies, and later as we can use the drive 
attached to acquired tendencies which have evolved from 
the original ones, can we train and educate the individual. 

How is education conditioned by original nature? 
Though the instinctive basis of his conduct becomes in- 
creasingly less and less obvious as habit formation and in- 
telligence modify and direct its original modes of expression, 
human life is permeated through and through with instine- 
tive action. ‘This instinctive equipment, regarded by cer- 
tain stern moralists as essentially bad, viewed by certain 
irresponsible lovers of liberty as essentially good, furnishes 
the only groundwork for the process of training and educa- 
tion. To eradicate these innate tendencies is no more pos- 
sible than to allow them an uncharted liberty. Any system 
of education or morals is certain to fail unless it recognizes 
these inextinguishable forces. By adapting its methods it 
must exercise, curb, modify, and harness them for the 
achievement of its purposes. 


“The common problem, yours, mine, everyone’s, 
Is not to fancy what were fair in life, 
Provided it could be— but, finding first 
What may be, then find how to make it fair 
Up to our means—a very different thing.” 


To spend time evaluating the equipment is futile; whether 
we like it or not, this equipment is the raw material of the 
_ educative process. Because of the similarity among all men 
of this original equipment, the behavior of diverse races and 
peoples remains much the same. As Bryce, in his Modern 
Democracies, has said: 4 


There is in the phenomena of human society one ‘‘Constant,” 
‘one element or factor which is practically always the same, and 


1 Bryce, James: Modern Democracies, vol. 1, p. 94. 


68 ~ PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


therefore the basis of all the so-called “‘Social Sciences.” This is 
Human Nature itself. All fairly normal men have like passions 
and desires. They are stirred by like motives, they think upon 
similar lines. When they have reached the stage of civilization in 
which arts and letters have developed, and political institutions 
have grown up, reason has become so far the guide of conduct, 
that sequences in their action can be established and their be- 
havior under given conditions can to some extent be foretold. 
Human nature is that basic and ever-present element in the end- 
less flux of social and political phenomena which enables general 
principles to be determined. And though the action of individual 
men may often be doubtful, the action of a hundred or a thousand 
men all subjected to the same influences at the same time may be 
much more predictable, because in a large number the idiosyn- 
crasies of individuals are likely to be eliminated or evened out. 


The great institutions, such as the family, the church, the 
], and the theater exist to gi > givg-economical and social 
expression to the instincts of man. While the more primi- 
tive of these must be rigorously curbed, repression as a 
method of social control is only tolerable in so far as it is the 
necessary accompaniment of a more adequate and satisfying 
type of expression. Re-direction of native impulses rather 
than repression is, as a rule, the wiser policy. 

Allowing for this process of modification we may say with 


McDougall: ! 


/ that directly or indirectly the instincts are the prime movers 
| of all human activity; by the impulsive force of some instinct, 
\. or of some habit derived (either directly or remotely) from an 
7 instinct, every bodily activity is both initiated and carried along 
towards its end. The instinctive impulses determine the ends of 
all activity and supply the driving power by which these ends are 
itt attained. 








Education can build only o1 on the original equipment. 
Using the inheritedtenden ncies, ies, it must teach the individual 
to react o ) many situations t to which nature p » prov vides | no 


TORII EE a A) PRO nce anne ETN 


1 McDougall, William: Social Psychology, p. 44. 


ORIGINAL NATURE AND EDUCATION 69 


adequate response; it must teach him to make many com- 
plicated responses which in combined form are not present 
in the original repertoire of reactions; it must teach him to 
find satisfaction in a multitude of activities which make no 
direct emotional appeal to primitive man. It is because the 
individual inherits such a marvelous modifiability as an 
essential property of his instinctive system that the be- 
havior of civilized man is so different in different environ- 
ments and always so far removed from that of the savage. 

How may the role of instinct be overemphasized? Dewey, 
considering the relative social significance of instinct and 
habit, while admitting the importance of the former, em- 
phasizes the opposite point of view from Bryce when he 
calls attention to thé fact that the modes through which 
original nature expresses itself may follow the most diverse 
patterns. Hesays:! 


At some place on the globe, at some time, every kind of practice 
seems to have been tolerated or even praised. How is the tre- 
mendous diversity of institutions, including moral codes, to be 
accounted for? ‘The native stock of instincts is practically the 
same everywhere. Exaggerate as much as we like the native 
differences of Patagonians and Greeks, Sioux Indians and Hin- 
doos, Bushmen and Chinese, their original differences will bear no 
comparison to the amount of difference found in custom and cul- 
ture. Since such a diversity cannot be attributed to an original 
identity, the development of native impulse must be stated in 
terms of acquired habits, not the growth of customs in terms of 
instincts. 


Such considerations as these are often overlooked in 
naive attempts to reduce social behavior to the direct mani- 
festation of instincts. At the risk of being misunderstood, 
we may say, original nature determines the animal, but 
habit formation creates man. To this question of the modi- 
fication of original nature by habit we must now turn. 


1 Dewey, John: Human Nature and Conduct, p. 91. 


70 


10. 


th. 


12: 


PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


. Why is it impossible to draw a sharp line of distinction between reflex 


action and instinctive action? 


. What is the physiological basis of instinct? How can an instinct be 


regarded as a mechanism? 


. Why have students of human nature abandoned the old practice of 


explaining conduct in terms of ‘‘an instinct of self preservation?” 
What type of instinctive behavior could not be classified under this 
broad category? 


. Why is it more consistent with the mechanistic conception of behav- 


ior to speak of “tendencies to fight,’ rather than a single “tendency 
to fight’’? 


. What original tendencies in modified form are obviously expressed or 


repressed in the following occupations? (1) Physician; (2) the parent; 
(3) the capitalist; (4) the common laborer; (5) the labor agitator; (6) 
the miser; (7) the philanthropist; (8) the sister of mercy; (9) the 
scientist; (10) the gambler; (11) the politician; (12) the private sol- 
dier; (13) the general; (14) the explorer; (15) the statesman; (16) the 
stamp collector; (17) the professional pugilist; (18) the amateur sports- 
man; (19) the executioner; (20) the priest; (21) the ascetic; (22) the 
libertine; (23) the teacher; (24) the grade pupil; (25) the research 
student. 


. What justification is there for the statement that modern civilization 


demands the eradication of many of the instinctive tendencies? In 
the absence of war, what outlet would be provided for those tendencies 
which war calls forth? 


. What happens when an instinctive tendency is thwarted? 
. Why, under the old-fashioned type of rigorous education, was it easy 


to gain the idea that the child was “‘sluggish, inert, and passive? 
How does modern education recognize the inner properties of the 


child? 


. In a high school, what instinctive tendencies in modified form are 


involved in the following situations? (1) The giving and receiving of 
marks and grades; (2) the promotion of students; (3) co-education; 
(4) the disciplining of students; (5) the study of civics; (6) secret 
societies; (7) participation in athletics; (8) dancing parties; (2) 
truancy. 

Why is it extremely difficult to distinguish between action which is 
purely instinctive, and action which is a combination of instinct and 
habit? 

How do you reconcile the position of Bryce and Dewey as stated in 
the text? 

How can modern society, in the interests of human happiness en-_ 
courage the expression of the creative rather than the acquisitive 
tendencies? 


PROBLEM 6 


HOW IS EDUCATION CONDITIONED BY HABIT 
FORMATION? 

How does the behavior of civilized man differ from that of the savage? 
— What is the widest conception of habit? — How do original tendencies 
function in habit formation? — How does trial and error function in 
habit formation? — How do old habits function in the formation of new 
habit systems? — What forces resist the formation of new habits? — How 
do habit systems integrate? — How does the external situation function 
in habit formation? — What general rules should contro] habit formation? 
— What are the ethical implications of habit formation? — How do lan- 
guage habits refine behavior? 


How does the behavior of civilized man differ from that 
of the savage? Each generation witnesses the transforma- 
tion of a potential savage into a responsible citizen. Only 
the frequency of this process blinds us to the miracle. The 
problem with which we are now concerned is, What is the 
nature of this process which modifies, almost beyond the 
limits of recognition, the original behavior of man? An- 
swering this question in the broadest fashion we may say 
that: 

(1) The responses of the cultured to any particular situa- 
tion vary markedly from those of the untrained in- 
dividual. 

(2) The cultured man reacts to and finds significant many 
situations which to the untrained are virtually non- 
existent. 

The untutored is as incapable of understanding the 
studied restraint of the cultivated man when angry, as he is 
mystified by the absorbed attention which a few hiero- 
glyphics on a piece of parchment can command in the per- 
son of literary habits. In the words of Plato: “ Man, if he 


12 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


enjoys a right education and a happy endowment, becomes 
the most divine and civilized of all living beings; but he is 
the most savage of all the products of the earth if he is 
inadequately and improperly traimed.”” And Santayana 
makes the same point: “the intelligent man known to his- 
tory flourishes within a dullard and holds a lunatic at leash.” 

What is the widest conception of habit? Through a proc- 
ess of training a situation derives a significance, it acquires 
a meaning, it calls forth a response which is not linked with 
it by original nature. On the physiological side, all habit, 
memory, and association phenomena may be reduced to the 
simple concept of the organism acquiring certain connections 
— connections which cause it to meet a situation with a 
response that is not native, or cause it to react to a situation 
which has only become significant because of training. 
The connections may be the precipitate of: 

(1) A process akin to animal learning. 

(2) A process involving what are commonly called ideas. 

(3) A process of reasoning (reflection). 

In these pages the term habit will be made to include all 
effects on behavior of the physiological traces left in the 
nervous system as a result of these three processes working 
alone or in combination. Habit is the modification of be- 
havior —executive, emotional and intellectual — consequent 
upon experience. 

How does this wide conception differ from the popular 
notion of habit? ‘To the extent that the so-called popular 
instincts are not original modes of response, but rather 
habit-consolidations built up by a simple and uniform ex- 
perience, the subject of habit formation gains in importance. 
It is to the slow but continuous changes made in the original 
equipment, to the series of habits developing from the native 
impulses, to the acquired behavior-patterns built up neu- 
rone-mosaic-fashion out of the original behavior-patterns 


HABIT FORMATION AND EDUCATION 73 


that the complexity of the adult’s conduct must be ascribed. 
A habit in this wide psychological sense is nothing more 
than a disposition left by previous experience. Even though 
the effect of later experience may wipe away all apparent 
trace of the ephemeral change, every response that is made 
forms a habit. To restrict habit formation, as is popularly 
done, to certain sensori-motor connections which by repeti- 
tion become relatively automatic and fixed in their nature, 
is to miss the psychological significance of habit formation. 
Even though a particular reaction — executive, emotional 
or intellectual — is made but once, however fleeting may 
be its nature, some trace is left. In this process is the essen- 
tial mechanism of habit formation. The number of times 
the connection may be made is merely a quantitative mat- 
ter; as we employ the term, whether the connection is used 
once or a million times, the process of habit formation 
appears. 

Convenience suggests that separate words be employed 
to distinguish popular from scientific usage, but it is too 
late to make such a distinction. What has just been said 
must serve to warn the reader against the narrow concep- 
tion of this term. To repeat, any change made in the nerv- 
ous system through learning, however slight this may be, 
constitutes a habit; whether it be a transitory and fugitive 
change or one that is deeply rooted, it is a habit neverthe- 
less. Throughout the discussion of education the use of 
habit in this double sense will be necessary, but in every 
case the context will make clear whether reference is to the 
mere fact of making, at a particular time, a connection but 
once, or to the fact of so firmly establishing this connection 
as to form a habit in the ordinary sense. If the term habit 
be used to cover all the connections made in the nervous 
system as the result of experience, it will readily be seen 
that the phenomena of memory and association must re- 


74 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


ceive their explanation on the physiological side from the 
study of habit formation. 

How do original tendencies function in habit formation? 
While the large fact is patent that all acquired tendencies 
can be nothing more than the outgrowth of the original 
tendencies, the manner in which habits evolve from simple 
native unit-reactions tends to be fogged by the presence, at 
any particular time, in the older child or adult of a vast 
number of habits previously formed. That the process, 
shorn of all complications, may be seen, a few illustrations 
of the acquisition of very simple habits — habits so simple 
indeed as to bring out the obvious instinctive nature of the 
contributing mechanisms — will be given. 

Pavlow’s famous experiment on salivary flow in the dog 
will provide a point of departure. In this experiment, by 
taking a healthy dog in which the taste of food produced a 
plentiful flow of saliva, Pavlow devised a technique whereby 
the actual quantity of the secretion could be measured. 
The original or adequate stimulus of such a flow is, of 
course, the taste of meat. Now suppose, over a number of 
trials, the animal is stimulated by a light and immediately 
afterwards fed. Experiment shows that after a short period 
of training the meat is not necessary to start the secretion. 
The light, by itself, is sufficient stimulus. In this experi- 
ment the process of learning is reduced to its simplest terms. 
A situation — stimulation by light — having by native en- 
dowment not the slightest effect on the response — flow 
of saliva — becomes connected with it, and, after a period 
of training, causes the animal to react in a definite way to 
a previously neutral and indifferent stimulus. 

Such a substitution of stimulus cannot be effected unless 
at the beginning the experimenter can provide the original 
stimulus to call forth the response. A homely illustration 
will make this clear. Consider the difficulty which would 


HABIT FORMATION AND EDUCATION 75 


be experienced by the reader in associating the movement 
of the ears with a verbal command. This difficulty is to be 
traced to the relative impossibility of finding an original 
stimulus which will cause the ears to move. The relative 
impossibility in this case should be compared with the ease 
with which the eyelid can be trained to close in response to a 
verbal suggestion. The process of habit formation is lim- 
ited by the modes of response which are native to the indi- 
vidual; only as certain responses are physiologically possi- 
ble and only, then, as they are capable of being called forth, 
can habit systems be constructed. 

Another simple case of habit formation will further the 
discussion. Suppose a child of two years is, for the first 
time, brought into a room where a steam radiator is in use. 
The child, stimulated by the sight of the unfamiliar object, 
will in the process of exploration approach and touch it; in 
the most general way it is permissible to say that certain of 
the responses loosely associated with curiosity have been 
called forth. On touching the object the child, experienc- 
ing the painful sensations of burning, exhibits an avoidance 
response. The sight of the radiator, after one or two ex- 
periences of this kind, will immediately call forth an avoid- 
ance reaction. ‘There is a change in the internal structure 
of the nervous system so that a situation which originally 
prompted to exploration and manipulation now calls forth a 
definite response of an opposite character. To add a slight 
complication to the illustration, we may further suppose 
that, just as the child is about to touch the radiator, his 
action attracts the attention of the nurse. Uttering the 
word “hot,” she thereby initiates a process which may re- 
sult in the association of the mere sound “ Hot ” with an 
avcidance response. 

How does trial and error function in habit formation? 
So far only the simplest types of learning have received con- 


76 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


sideration. A slightly more complex illustration will focus 
attention on the.manner in which all habit formation is de- 
pendent on a trial-and-error process. A child is shown a 
metal puzzle box in which he is told a bon-bon has been 
placed. On being given the box he at once proceeds, in a 
trial-and-error fashion, to use his repertoire of manipula- 
tory responses. After some time spent in fruitless effort, an- 
ger ensues, and the guarded exploration and manipulation 
give place to coarser random movements. Eventually in 
despair the box is thrown to the ground and stamped upon 
in rage. None of these actions avails to open the box and 
the child, attracted by some other interest, abandons the 
problem. In afew minutes, however, he hears the remark, 
‘You surely aren’t such a baby as to give up.” Nettled 
into action by this additional stimulation he takes up the 
box again, and, after further careful manipulation, discovers — 
the exact spot which, when pressed, causes the lid to fly 
open and the candy to be released. After two or three 
further trials the puzzle box will elicit, without delay, the 
appropriate response. The long process of trial and error, 
the reader will observe, was motivated in this case by a de- 
sire for the candy, a certain curiosity, anger, and a desire 
for approval. All these drives were necessary to bring the 
activity to a successful conclusion. 

How do old habits function in the formation of new habit 
systems? At the hazard of being tedious we must give one 
further illustration, which is designed to bring out the man- 
ner in which previously acquired habits function in the 
formation of more elaborate hierarchies. Imagine a man, 
who has played baseball, basketball, and tennis, taking up 
the game of football. His first attempts to meet the novel 
situations induced by the new game show how the old 
habits of judging the flight of the ball, of throwing, of catch- 
ing, of running and dodging ete. etc., are being used with but 


HABIT FORMATION AND EDUCATION 77 


little modification as they were built up in the other games. 
Initial skill is due to these factors contributed by previous 
experience. The individual, however, if he is to become a 
superior player, will have to modify a large number of these 
responses in order to meet the conditions peculiar to the 
game; his action after catching the ball cannot be the same 
as in basketball, and the hand-and-arm movement must be 
different from that in baseball. Furthermore, he will be 
compelled to break himself of certain habits acquired with 
great pains in the other games — modes of behavior which 
positively interfere with the acquirement of skill in the novel 
sport. The acquisition of the added skills demands that 
some of the old skills be used unchanged, that other skills be 
modified, and that still others be completely eradicated. 
Legion is the number of adult golfers who find their progress 
barred by the extreme difficulty which is experienced in 
*“ dropping ”’ the baseball or the cricket “‘ swing.”’ 

Why is trial and error evident even in the higher forms of 
habit formation? In general, when facing some new aspect 
of the environment, the individual tries a repertoire of in- 
herited and acquired responses until an adequate response 
relieves the internal tension created by the situation. Later 
when the habit is established, it causes the individual to 
initiate a series of activities which follows a certain well- 
defined order. This system of reactions, built up from 
more elementary reactions, is termed an acquired-reaction 
pattern. Often, through the disintegration of a complex 
habit, certain elements which compose it are released and 
are made available for further habit formation. The new 
habit is nothing more than the integration of a series of 
separate responses which finally function as a unit. As the 
repertoire of habits possessed by the individual increases, 
and this repertoire becomes available for future habits, the 
trial-and-error nature of the process becomes obscured. 


78 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


Nevertheless, as an essential accompaniment of any new 
adaptation, this method of learning is always present. 
What is the physiological basis of habit formation? Per- 
haps, at the risk of being sketchy, we may make some brief 
mention of the physiological basis of habit formation by 
revealing the mechanical process which conditions the ac- 
quirement of new modes of response. This may serve to 
make the phenomenon more intelligible. The nervous sys- 
tem may be regarded as a vast telephone exchange, of which 
the smallest communicating unit is the neurone. Any habit 
involves a codperative functioning or a unified action of 
a large number of these neurones. Each neurone connects 
with neighboring neurones through a junction of varying 
resistance, called the “‘ synapse.”’ The fact that a discharge, 
which originally passed from neurone A to neurone B, now 
passes from A to C must be ascribed to some alteration, 
through fatigue, drainage, or other means, in the synapse 
between A and B. In some way or another a resistance is 
set up in the latter synapse, which makes the path of least 
resistance no longer A to B, but A to C. This passage of 
energy in the new direction alters the synapse more or less 
permanently, making the path A to C more readily travers- 
able on future occasions. The acquirement of new be- 
havior-patterns must in the last analysis be traced to cer- 
tain bio-chemical changes which take place at the synapses. 
What forces resist the formation of new habits? Habit 
formation of any kind is dependent on the modifiability of 
the nervous system. Inability to form new habits must be 
ascribed to two allied causes. In the first place, the lack 
may be traced to certaim general physiological changes 
which, occurring with age, prevent the formation of new 
methods of response. The aged scholar who in spite of 
strong desire is unable to acquire a new language or a new 
terminology is a case in point. Qne can only have compas- 


HABIT FORMATION AND EDUCATION 19 


sion on such an individual. But the less kind and more 
common explanation for most of the lack of modifiability is 
found in a certain physiological set which, on the psychologi- 
cal side, can only be described as a certain stubbornness or 
loyalty to old and established habits. ‘The presence of pref- 
erential associations formed by past experience gives a 
sense of adjustment which is illusory, and the individual re- 
fuses to overcome the inertia of the old and satisfying 
“habit ways.” The man who is always justifying his con- 
duct by saying that what was good enough for his father is 
good enough for him, is a sad example of this blocking of new 
activity by old habits. The scientists in the late eighties 
and nineties who refused to reorganize their thought in the 
light of the evolutionary theory cannot be said to have lost 
their inherent physiological elasticity, but their previous 
habits of thought bound them to their old moorings and 
prevented their sailing on new and uncharted seas. 

How do habit systemsintegrate? From hour to hour, day 
to day, month to month, these countless trial-and-error ex- 
periments take place, each one of them making through the 
synapses certain changes in the inner organization, each one 
leaving its trace in an acquired behavior-pattern wrought 
in the physiological structure. From original modes of 
response, there first develop the very simple habits; with 
these habits formed the child then proceeds, through the 
combination and recombination of these more simple pat- 
terns, to form further and more complex habits. On the 
basis of these habit systems the higher forms of habit can 
then be built up, until, in the most complex form of be- 
havior which man is called upon to initiate, before the re- 
sponses necessary for successful adjustment are forthcom- 
ing, vast numbers or hierarchies of lower habits have to be- 
come iitegrated together. On this account a particular 
habit system may have but slight terminal value; its desir- 


80 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION ' 


ability resides in its transitional value. It must be judged 
by its usefulness in facilitating further adaptation. Most 
habit systems must be progressive, they must lead on to 
something better. ‘This is the basis of Dewey’s statement 
that the aim of education is to produce capacity for further 
education. 

How does the external situation function in habit forma- 
tion? From what has been said, two important aspects of 
habit formation should be apparent. In the first place, 
habits are not changes which can be thrust upon the indi- 
vidual. The external situations by themselves do not de- 
termine what shall be learned; they merely “ upset ” the 
organism so that certain responses are initiated. This 
““commotional state ’’ but serves to rouse the organism to 
initiate certain more or less random reactions designed to 
relieve the existing tension. If one type of reaction is not 
successful, the internal state of tension, though modified, 
persists, and further reactions are tried, until, eventually, 
the successful reaction is made. The individual feels the 
want and registers the sensitivity to the situation; the in- 
dividual, through the reaction system, initiates the process 
of trial-and-error learning. An internal tension starts the 
activity and the final relief from strain, accompatiying the 
successful reaction, closes the activity. Situations can 
‘never in the strict sense cause reactions; reactions are ex- 
pressions of the individual organism. 

Why is the individual enslaved by his habit systems? In 
the second place, habits are not mere additional trappings 
to be donned or removed at will; habits — motor, emotional, 
or intellectual — are nothing more than dispositions to 
react to certain aspects of the environment. The forma- 
tion of a habit implies the giving of an hostage to the envi- 
ronment; for as long as this habit endures the individual will 
react, or at least tend to react, in the manner determined by 


HABIT FORMATION AND EDUCATION 81 


this habit. Just as an instinct is defined as an inborn tend- 
ency which compels us to attend to certain objects, and to 
feel and act in certain ways towards these objects, so a 
habit, which is not perfectly automatic may well be re- 
garded as an acquired tendency which makes us pay atten- 
tion to certain objects, to feel in a certain way towards these 
objects, and to act in a certain way with respect to them. 
The similarity between habit and instinct in their effect 
on behavior is obvious. The peculiar habit, or group of 
habits, which rides us at any particular moment may seem 
to be rather arbitrary, but the apparent arbitrariness is to 
be explained in terms of the internal set of the individual. 
The internal states produced by previous experience, espe- 
cially the relatively immediate experiences, are all present 
to determine which aspect of the situation will claim our 
attention, and what series of responses will be forthcoming. 
Unless we consider, at any moment, the state of tension 
prior to every action, man’s conduct, far from being deter- 
mined by previous experience, appears as free and as vari- 
able as the wind. When this factor is taken into account 
there is every reason to suppose that man, except in earliest 
infancy, is habit-ridden at every moment of his existence. 
The manner in which habits control us is not particularly 
apparent when we consider such groupings of habits as 
skating, typewriting, and piano-playing, which are com- 
monly isolated from the main trends of life. Because we can 
avoid the situations that evoke these responses the idea is 
easily gained that habits are mere servants to be called upon 
when they happen to further our purpose, and equally to be 
held in check when they are not serviceable. To the so- 
called bad habits we may turn for peculiarly apt illustrations 
of this point. Smoking, drinking, idling, and backbiting all 
illustrate the hold which habits can take upon us and the 
manner in which, perforce, they mould our conduct. Hav- 


82 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


ing once formed a thorough dislike for a person, however 
much we may wish or however much it may be to our ad- 
vantage to be well disposed towards him, to control our 
conduct and more particularly our feelings is all but im- 
possible. Having formed a habit of idling, how a host of 
situations lures us to our wasted hours! On the other hand, 
our good habits function in the same way; for an industrious 
man almost any situation arouses the desire to‘control and 
direct the sequence of events. So tightly held is man by his 
habits that, in case they are bad, he is only able to ration- 
alize their fatal effect on his conduct by claiming himself 
possessed and ridden by the devil; but when good habits 
are in the saddle, with pardonable partiality, he ascribes 
his actions to his “better self’? and not to the guiding 
hand of the angels! 

What general rules should control habit formation? JIn- 
terpreting situation and response in the comprehensive man- 
ner indicated, we can see that the problem of education 
and of human engineering consists in building up certain con- 
nections within the individual. We choose our schools, we 
choose our teachers, we choose our subjects, and we frame 
our institutions in order that this connection-forming may 
proceed economically and socially. The rules of such a com- 
plex process can no more be covered by a few simple state- 
ments than the difficult game of diplomacy can be guided by 
afew wise canons. ‘The art of making and breaking connec- 
tions is too continuous with the whole process of living to 
be reduced to a few rubrics. In spite of this obvious fact, 
attention may be directed to certain helpful rules which 
serve as guideposts on the road to learning. 

The first is the Rule of Repetition. In establishing any 
connection, cause the connection to be made a sufficient 
number of times to make the bond as strong as is demanded. 

The second is the Rule of Distribution of Praciice. In the 


HABIT FORMATION AND EDUCATION 83 


case of those connections that have to be made relatively 
permanent, so control the learning as to allow longer and 
longer intervals of time to elapse between the successive 
periods of practice, which should become increasingly 
shorter in duration. 

The third is the Rule of Direct Action. As far as possible 
form every connection in the exact form and in the exact 
setting in which later it is to be employed. 

The fourth is the Rule of General Motivation. Whenever it 
is desired to establish connections, so arrange the conditions 
that satisfaction will accompany or follow the adequate 
response; and, conversely, that dissatisfaction will accom- 
pany or follow the inadequate response. 

As a further guide there follows a fifth rule, the Rule of 
Self-Motivation. Whenever possible, so arrange the condi- 
tions of learning that the connections established shall be 
the outcome of self-initiated and self-driven activity, rather 
than the result of externally-imposed and _ artificially- 
motivated labor. 

Professor James, in his famous chapter or rather sermon 
on habit formation, says that the great desideratum is to 
make our nervous system our ally instead of our enemy. 
With great effect he points out that habit formation not 
only simplifies the movements necessary to the achievement 
of a certain result, but, also, by diminishing the attention 
necessary to attain this end, enables the individual to give 
his attention to more complicated features of the situation. 
Writing with reference to the formation of habits, using 
habit in the popular sense, he cites the following three 
maxims: 

1, Launch any new habit with as strong and decided 

initiative as possible. 

2. Never suffer an exception to occur until the new habit 

is securely rooted. | | 


84 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


3. Seize every possible opportunity to air the habit until 

it is securely formed. 

What are the ethical implications of habit formation? To 
show the fundamental réle played by habit formation in 
the conduct of the individual, we cannot do better than 
quote verbatim the passage with which James closes his 
exhortation. He says: ! 


The physiological study of mental conditions is thus the most 
powerful ally of hortatory ethics. The hell to be endured here- 
after, of which theology tells, is no worse than the hell we make for 
ourselves in this world by habitually fashioning our characters in 
the wrong way. Could the young but realize how soon they will 
become mere walking bundles of habits, they would give more heed 
to their conduct while in the plastic state. We are spinning our 
own fates, good or evil, and never to be undone. Every smallest 
stroke of virtue or of vice leaves its never so little scar. The 
drunken Rip Van Winkle, in Jefferson’s play, excuses himself for 
every fresh dereliction by saying, “I won’t count this time!” 
Well! he may not count it, and a kind Heaven may not count it; 
but it is being counted none the less. Down among his nerve-cells 
and fibres the molecules are counting it, registering and storing 
it up to be used against him when the next temptation comes. 
Nothing we ever do is, in strict scientific literalness, wiped out. 
Of course this has its good side as well as its bad one. As we 
become permanent drunkards by so many separate drinks, so we 
become saints in the moral, and authorities and experts in the 
practical and scientific spheres, by so many separate acts and 
hours of work. 


How do language habits refine behavior? As this life- 
long interplay of restless organism and a changing environ- 
ment takes place, the process of habit formation continues. 
Thousands and hundreds of thousands of situations become 
linked or bound through the acquired structure of the indi- 
vidual with thousands and hundreds of thousands of re- 
sponses. ‘The situations, at first original in their nature, 


' 1James, William: Psychology, vol. 1, p. 127. 


HABIT FORMATION AND EDUCATION 85 


become more and more refined and symbolic until a word 
heard, read, or spoken, becomes potent in its effect on be- 
havior, and a motto such as noblesse oblige may drive the 
man, attuned to its stirring message, to the most heroic acts 
of devotion. In the same manner the responses which are 
at first crude and gross become increasingly refined and 
implicit, until a major part of the response of the highly 
trained adult will, on the physiological side, be found to 
center in the explicit or implicit language mechanisms. In 
the case of a political prisoner, whose death sentence is con- 
veyed to him by means of a few black symbols on a piece of 
official paper, and whose only overt action to the news is 
contained in the spoken phrase, “ I am ready and glad to 
die for my cause,’’ we see the extreme manner in which both 
the situation and the response can be refined. 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


1. What is the distinction between the popular and the scientific usage | 
of the term habit? In what respects is the latter usage the wider? 
Illustrate your answers. 

2. Why in the case of the acquirement of a habit on the part of an adult 
is it so difficult to trace the process back to instinctive origins? 

3. What are the physiological mechanisms upon which plasticity de- 
pends? In what way do these mechanisms set bounds to the plas- 
ticity of the child? How was Locke wrong when he spoke of the 
human mind as a sheet of blank paper on which experience writes? 

4, What prompts the individual to form a habit? Under what condi- 
tions does he continue to use the habit? 

5. Why, in the case of the formation of new modes of reaction by the 
adult, is the process of trial-and-error so short-circuited as to be barely 
noticeable, even when meeting apparently new situations? Why is it 
so difficult to get a novel situation for an adult? 

6. How can you reconcile the statement of Rousseau that Emile should 
form but one habit, namely, the habit of forming no habits, with that 
of James who urges the individual to make automatic as early as pos- 
sible a large number of habits? 

7. Why does the objective situation alone never determine the response? 
Show how the same person, at different times depending on his set, 
will react to the same objective situation in radically different ways. 


86 


PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


8: From the standpoint of habit, what justification is there for the 


10. 


statement that the genius, on facing a familiar situation, does not 
react in the customary manner? 


. How is (a) the learning of French pronunciation: (b) the following 
_ of scientific procedure; (c) the learning of algebra; (d) the formation 


of health habits; and (e) learning to read in the first grade, hindered 
and helped by habits previously formed? 

Taking the five arbitrary rules of learning, show in detail how they 
are followed and violated in the learning process of the classroom. 
What devices might be employed in recognition of these laws in 
teaching the multiplication table, a poem, handwriting, or honesty? 


PROBLEM 7 


HOW IS EDUCATION CONDITIONED BY 
LANGUAGE? 


What is the objective physiological theory of behavior? — What réle does 
language play in behavior? — What is thinking? — How does the be- 
haviorist justify his position? — Does his theory cover the facts? — Is 
behaviorism a helpful methodology? — How may our position be sum- 
marized? 5 
What is the objective physiological theory of behavior? 
The reader may feel that, in the previous treatment, we have 
beguiled him into a false position in that we have reduced 
all behavior to the interaction of the physiological mechan- 
isms. Such a position is the logical outcome of the fore- 
going discussion, and is championed by an influential school 
of students of human behavior. With the physiological 
evidence before them which so clearly shows that there can 
be no psychical process, or consciousness, which is not ac- 
companied by the corresponding neural process — a fact 
which is usually referred to as the law of psycho-neural 
parallelism — a large number of psychologists feel them- 
selves forced to go even further and deny the least influence 
on behavior of the conscious processes. ‘This school con-° 
tends that if we could get a complete picture, at any time, of 
the structure of the nervous system, and had a perfect 
knowledge of the laws of the physical and chemical processes 
that occur therein, we should be able to account completely 
for all the conduct of the individual. Put more bluntly, 
the popular notion that the conscious process of thought in 
some way presides over behavior and determines its nature 
is in error. 

In view of the fact that so many writers on education, in 


88 - PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


laying the foundations of their psychology assume a rigid 
mechanical physiological theory, and later, without any 
attempt to pave the way for a complete change in their posi- 
tion or terminology, assume in their subsequent treatment 
that consciousness affects conduct, the authors have deemed 
it essential to give this aspect of the behavior problem some 
slight attention before passing on to the question of the 
modification of conduct by reflection. 

To introduce ourselves to the cogent and attractive argu- 
ments of the physiological school, to which reference has 
been made, we may put an extreme question: Does the 
conscious process of thought influence behavior, or is such 
behavior completely explicable in physiological terms? ‘To 
put the question in a slightly different form: Is the be- 
havior which accompanies thinking explicable wholly in 
terms of an elaborate interplay of the inherited and ac- 
quired habits registered in physiological mechanisms? ‘The 
first tendency is to conclude that behavior accompanied by 
thinking and behavior controlled by habits are poles 
asunder. But, on the other hand, the conscious process 
called thinking is itself dependent on past habits, especially 
language habits, and may, it is urged, be conceivably noth- 
ing more than an accompaniment of the functioning of a 
large number of these mechanisms. ‘To help us to see this 
‘point, we may note that when a habit or particular group of 
habits can run itself off in straightforward fashion, thinking 
and deliberation are at a minimum. But when a situation 
becomes so intricate as to call forth not one group of habits, 
but many groups of conflicting habits, then the so-called 
process of deliberation supervenes. This would at least 
suggest that thinking may be merely the psychological ac- 
companiment of a clash of habit forces, no one of which is 
for the time capable of overcoming its opponents and lead- 
ing to overt action. | 


LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION 89 


To continue the argument and to make this position 
clearer, we will direct attention to an aspect of habit for- 
mation which has already been illustrated. Just as, in the 
case of the dog and the salivary flow, an indifferent stimulus 
is substituted for an adequate one, so in the case of the child 
and the radiator, the word “ hot,” uttered by the nurse, is 
made to evoke an avoidance response. May we not sup- 
pose that due to this experience the word “ hot,” when re- 
peated by the child himself, can in the same way call forth 
this response? Here is the clue to the understanding of the 
manner in which a language mechanism (saying the word 
“hot ’?) may control the behavior (the avoidance response). 
This is a very simple illustration of the way in which the 
physiological mechanisms of language begin to take their 
place with other mechanisms and through the process of 
integration begin to exert a powerful effect on conduct. If 
the reader grasps, once and for all, the general principle 
that a word may serve as a substitute stimulus for the in- 
dividual who speaks it, many of the difficulties which at- 
tend the understanding of the position here considered will 
disappear. 

What réle does language play in behavior? Aristotle 
suggests that man is a political animal; it might perhaps be 
more profound to say that man is a talking animal. Ina 
world in which language is such a constant source of com- 
munication, and therefore of stimulation, experience cannot 
fail to introduce many language mechanisms which interact 
with each other and with the remaining mechanisms con- 
trolling behavior. As the individual develops in this lan- 
guage-controlled world, the situations to which he reacts 
and the responses which he makes become more and more 
symbolic through the aid of language. Owing to the ex- 
treme flexibility of speech, the situations which can be com- 
pounded out of a vocabulary of even one thousand words 


90 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


are almost infinite in number. Similarly with such a vocab- 
ulary the verbal responses to situations are innumerable. 

When once the mechanisms of language have been built 
up the range of: stimulation is increased, and, at the same 
time, an enormous complexity is introduced into human be- 
havior. An external stimulus arouses a large number of 
these conflicting language mechanisms; an intense conflict 
of a trial-and-error order arises among these various mech- 
anisms; finally, after a prolonged process of interference 
and facilitation, the conflict resolves itself and eventuates 
in a definite line of conduct. Needless to say there is no 
clear consciousness of the manifold language mechanisms; 
but delicate instruments attached to certain parts of the 
throat reveal implicit movements of the vocal organs. 
Even our most private thinking is dependent upon a sub- 
vocal use of those habits which, expressed in overt form, 
result in speech. Thought without traces of laryngeal 
movements, it is claimed, is in the normal person extremely 
rare, and in these cases can only occur through the use of 
other substitute stimulus mechanisms, such as the hands in 
the deaf or other gestural forms. 

What is thinking? What is thinking in these terms? On 
the physiological side it is a type of behavior in which lan- 
guage mechanisms play an important rdle. On the psychi- 
cal side it is the necessary concomitant of the functioning 
of these language mechanisms. The popular conception of 
the “ thought behind ” the final action as the cause of the 
action is, from this extreme point of view, a myth, like the 
nature myths of a savage people. The conscious process 
termed thinking exists; it is, so to speak, the shadow — the 
ever-present shadow — of the reality, language mechanism; 
but it is merely an idle accompaniment and, because of its 
immaterial nature, can never affect the physiological mech- 

anisms that condition behavior. 


LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION 91 


Such is a fair statement of one theory of behavior. Un- 
less we step out of the narrow confines, many think wide 
confines of objective science, we are compelled to accept 
this view. We are bound to assume, if we are loyal to our 
scientific method, that a scholar, when brought face to face 
with an abstruse problem, and driven by certain internal 
physiological tensions, goes through his repertoire of physio- 
logical reactions. The only difference between the scholar 
in his intellectual maze and the dog in his physical maze is 
in the nature of the mechanisms used; the latter goes 
through a form of trial and error in his overt reactions, 
while the former follows a similar process of trial and error 
in which a vast host of implicit language mechanisms oc- 
cupies the central position. 

Will our loyalty to the canons of objective science carry 
- us so far? Is this position tenable? The reader may feel 
inclined to laugh this principle of explanation out of court. 
What would be the reply of the thorough-going physiological 
psychologist? He would urge the argument already put 
forward that, as more and more habit mechanisms are built 
up, including the vast number in the realm of language, a 
simple line of discharge of energy is often not available. 
To the peculiar conscious accompaniment of the conflict 
that arises between the various mechanisms, the terms re- 
flection and deliberation have been applied. ‘The indeci- 
sion and temporal duration of this process gives merely an 
appearance of control which, could we realize the mechani- 
cal nature of each element in the activity, would be seen to 
be illusory. 

How does the behaviorist justify his position? Holt has 
presented the arguments in favor of this theory in their 
most appealing form. He shows that, as the process of 
habit formation progresses, the individual exhibits a greater 
and greater independence of the immediate situation and a 


92 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


correspondingly greater power to react to the wider aspect 
of the environment. ‘This is made possible through the 
integrative properties of the nervous system. In the higher 
forms of behavior, the importance of the immediate stimulus 
diminishes. 

The belief in conscious control of the activity, which is 
popularly assumed, is in error. The appearance of deliber- 
ate control is to be ascribed to these complex mechanisms 
of facilitation and inhibition which delay the reaction and 
prevent it from culminating in overt conduct before it has 
become compounded with responses to earlier and later and 
different aspects of the situation. When finally the process 
of resolution has been carried to the point where overt ac- 
tion takes place, the behavior shows an adaptation to the 
‘more remote aspects of the situation. To this process may 
be traced the appearance of conscious control which charac- 
terizes the whole activity. If at all times the immediate 
reaction were to an obvious environmental stimulus, con- 
scious interference would never have been postulated; but, 
when through the integration of the nervous system, the 
reaction is more and more to a wider aspect of the situation, 
the sense of control is felt. ‘To the enormous complexity of 
mechanism, especially to the large number of language 
mechanisms, and to the manner in which, owing to the 
physiological properties and structure of the nervous sys- 
tem, these mechanisms are integrated, the final complexity 
of conduct must be ascribed. 

Does this theory cover the facts? Such is, perhaps, the 
most satisfying statement of the rigid parallelist or physio- 
logical view of the life process. But does this statement 
take into account all the facts? The interactionists who 
claim that psychical and physical processes interact or re- 
act upon one another, and that psychical processes (con- 
sciousness) play an important part in determining conduct, 


LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION © 98 


reply emphatically in the negative. But this philosophical 
question cannot be settled; for the benefit of the reader 
interested in this theoretical problem, the position of the 
interactionist is briefly stated in the following sub- 
section. 

Is behaviorism a helpful methodology? Meanwhile, 
solely for the purpose of methodology, we shall assume the 
objective physiological theory to hold. An exact natural 
scientist studying the phenomena of behavior is forced into 
this as the only tenable position. As we consider the topics 
of reflection and the growth of character we shall, therefore, 
continue to suppose that the same mechanical principles of 
explanation operate as in the simpler processes of reaction. 
We shall, in the interests of methodology, regard thinking 
as a product of hosts of language habits; we shall regard 
character as a convenient term for expressing the mechan- 
istic possibilities of the individual. 

In the interests of straightforward expression, and with a 
freedom of approach and a lack of verbal restraint which is 
wanting to the whole subject, when treated in these strictly 
scientific terms, we shall feel perfectly free to use the popu- 
lar terminology. To avoid a great deal of circumlocution 
we shall speak of thought controlling action, etc., without 
feeling the necessity of translating such phrases into the 
more recondite terms of habit mechanisms, and saying — 
“my action was controlled by a series of past language 
habits.” ‘To the meticulous scientific reader it will be com- 
forting to observe that the same license is taken by the 
astronomer when he refers to the “ rising’ and “ setting ” 
of the sun; but such popular usage must be sanctioned if we 
are to avoid such an absurdly pedantic statement as “the 
earth revolved to a position where the rays of the sun were 
beginning to strike the observer.” 

How may our position be summarized? Before proceed: 


94 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


ing to a consideration of the reflective process, a digression 
into the realm of philosophy must be pardoned; the more 
practical reader is at liberty to omit this excursion. But 
for the benefit of the reader who wisely exercises this pre- 
rogative we may point out that it is only as a methodology 
that we embrace behaviorism. As psychologists, writing 
an exact psychology, we champion it for its usefulness, but 
as philosophers, writing a theory of education, we reject it 
for its arrogance. A philosophy of education bound by a 
rigid behaviorism, disregarding by definition the core of 
human experience, would be fatuous and futie. 


SUB-PROBLEM 7 


Do conscious processes affect behavior? — What deterraines the choice 
between behaviorism and interactionism? — What are the limitations of 
behaviorism for an educational philosophy? 


Do conscious processes affect behavior? In interpreting the 
facts of behavior in the text, we have followed strictly the line of 
argument used by the extreme physiological psychologist. We 
have done this because behaviorism provides, as far as one can now 
see, the only possible hypothesis on which to build an exact science 
of conduct. That this behaviorist explanation, however, is but 
hypothetical must be clearly realized; it is resorted to only because 
the scientist, concerned with objective phenomena, is totally un- 
able to fit into his scheme of thought any theory which assumes 
the interaction of conscious processes with those neural processes 
which form the legitimate object of scientific study. Within the 
narrow limits of the natural scientist who would reduce every- 
thing to an objective situation, there is no room for consciousness 
as a causative factor. Every phenomenon must be explicable in 
terms of the usual physical entities. It is significant to note that 
physicists, such as Einstein and Bohr, and philosophers, such as 
Russell and Whitehead, seem to be much more open-minded as 
to the nature of these entities than do the physiologists and 
psychologists. Therefore, the scientist adopts the necessary hy- 
pothesis; he disregards consciousness and builds up his system of 
explanation without its introduction. Loyal to the rules of his 


LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION 95 


game, he has formulated his theory. And the extremists! have 
even persuaded themselves that the conscious states of the indi- 
vidual, except as they are the necessary companions of certain 
scientifically respectable neural processes, are so superfluous as not 
to merit even a nod in passing! 

What is the reply of the interactionist? Before leaving 
this matter, however, the question may fairly be asked, Does this 
physiological theory of behavior cover adequately all the facts, 
and, on this account, satisfy all competent students of human con- 
duct? Not to the objective scientist, trammelled by his physical 
concepts, but to the philosopher with his wider range of interest, 
we shall have to address this question. ‘To it, the interactionist, 
who claims that psychical and physical processes interact or react 
upon one another, and that psychical processes play an important 
part in determining conduct, returns, as we have already said, an 
unequivocal “ No.” He claims that, however attractive may be the 
behaviorist explanation of conduct, unless it is able to give a more 
gripping explanation of those peculiar and intimate processes called 
memory, choice, deliberation, reasoning, persistence, imagery, its 
claim to be the whole explanation must be rigorously rejected. 
The interactionist is perfectly willing to accept, as we have done, 
the mechanistic idea as a scientific hypothesis, and work with it as 
far as it will carry him; but, if some important aspect of human 
experience still defies explanation in these terms, he claims that 
a wider hypothesis must be sought — an hypothesis that will in- 

clude all the valuable elements of the behaviorist explanation, and, 
at the same time, leave room for the entrance of conscious processes 
as determiners of conduct. The behaviorist conception certainly 
serves the valuable purpose of providing a psychological meth- 
odology by directing attention to the intimate manner in which the 
higher mental processes are related to physiological dispositions, 
but when it says that they are completely subsumed under an 
elaborate conflict of physiological mechanisms it passes outside 
the realm of possible proof into a realm of speculation. In the 


1 Weiss goes to the logical extreme: “The formulation of the behav- 
ioristic position is then expressed in the statement that all human con- 
duct and achievement is nothing but (a) different kinds of electron- 
proton groupings characterized according to geometrical structure: (b) 
the motions that occur when one structural or dynamic form changes 
into another.’ Psychol. Rev., Jan., 1924. 


96 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


first realm decision is forced by the weight of evidence, but in the 
second varied interpretations are permitted by the facts, even 
when there is no disagreement as to what shall be accepted as a 
fact. The interactionist refuses to believe, as the behaviorist 
theory implies, that consciousness is a mere epi-phenomenon, that 
“‘ thinking” while a necessary concomitant of complex neural proc- 
esses, does not and can not produce an effect on action. He re- 
fuses to regard the psychical part of the activity as having no 
influence on conduct, and on this account a biological superfluity. 
He refuses to make man a mere puppet whose behavior is con- 
trolled wholly by physiological mechanisms. Above all he refuses 
to believe a recent behaviorist writer! when he says that “‘ the 
statement, ‘I am conscious’ does not mean anything more than 
the statement that such and such physiological processes are 
going on within me.” 

What determines the choice between behaviorism and in- 
teractionism ?/ The choice between a rigid behaviorism and the 
common-sense interactionism is at best hard. ‘The choice cannot 
be made in the interests of convenience, nor can it be made by the 
appeal to our present knowledge of the facts. The behaviorist 
and the interactionist are both studying the same total process, 
and they come to diametrically opposite conclusions. The be- 
haviorist rightly claims that there are great difficulties in the as- 
sumption of the interactionists, in so far as we cannot conceive the 
“how ” of the process. ‘To conceive of psychical energy as inter- 
acting with physical energy is indeed most difficult. But we have 
just the same d)fficulty in conceiving in the physical realm the 
“how ” of gravitation. Furthermore, the behaviorist points out 
that the law of conservation of energy — the most fruitful gen- 
eralization in the natural sciences — would forbid our assuming that 
thought (immaterial) can control behavior (material). To this 
argument the reply of the interactionist is that the law of con- 
servation of energy is at best an hypothesis, and that there is no 
justification for supposing that physical energy is the only type of 
energy, and therefore that the physical universe is a closed system 
which excludes any possibility of psychical and physical energy 
being measured in some common units. 

The common-sense position of interactionism is supported by as 
distinguished names as is the theory of parallelism. James con- 


1 Lashley, K.S.: Psychol. Rev., July, 1923. 


LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION 97 


cluded, when considering this question: ‘“‘ There result two con- 
ceptions of possibility, face to face, with no facts definitely known 
to stand as arbiter between them.”’ As Garnett points out:} 


If the theory (of parallelism) that the psychic side of human nature is 
not free to influence the stream of thought and to direct the accompanying 
neural activity so as to produce desired movements be correct, then we 
need make (or, rather, pretend to make) no further effort, whether to 
formulate laws of thought or to accomplish any other thing: all will happen 
as is foreordained. And, if we were to make the mistake of assuming that 
the psychic side of human nature — our souls and their agents, our wills — 
were free, no harm would be done by our (imaginary) decision to accept 
the wrong theory; for our mistake (like everything else) would be inevi- 
table. But if the second theory is right, if psycho-physical interaction is a 
reality and human souls are really free to influence neural activities by the 
exercise of will and so to modify behaviour, the consequences of assuming 
and acting upon the opposite theory would be terrible in the extreme. 
Being born to freedom, we should live as slaves. There is therefore every- 
thing to lose, and nothing to gain, by deciding against the hypothesis of 
interaction, unless and until we are forced to do so by the facts. 


What are the limitations of behaviorism for an educational 
philosophy? ‘The reader is free to choose between these two inter- 
pretations. In the interests of presenting a coherent account of 
the development of personality, it is possible, as an exact natural 
scientist, to assume, as we have done in the text, the behavioristic 
position, and yet, with the wider sweep of the philosopher, to sup- 
pose that in some way or another the psychical and the physical 
do interact, or possibly that the two sets of data are but different 
aspects of a single process.2 Even if the reader champions the 
doctrine of interactionism, the behaviorist hypothesis we have 
tentatively adopted as our psychological groundwork will be serv- 
iceable as far as it goes. It has at least the merit of being a con- 
sistent and most fascinating theory, though, in our opinion, in 
spite of the cogent arguments of Perry, it can never form the sole 
psychological foundation for a philosophy of education which is 
concerned with the choice of human purposes and the weighing of 
human values. 

The point cannot be overstressed that human purposes and 








1 Garnett, J. C. M.: Education and World Citizenship, p. 97. 

?No dogmatic position can be taken as to the final nature of physio- 
logical process. Perchance, this process, as Royce, Russell, and White- 
head have hinted, may, in the last analysis, be inherently conscious. 


98 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


values, and even attitudes and appreciations — the central concern 
of education — cannot be described in mechanistic terms without 
losing their meaning and significance. Behaviorism as a meth- 
odology for the scientific investigation of the habit processes in 
education is invaluable, and as a methodology we embrace it 
willingly. But, as a theory covering all aspects of human ex- 
perience, especially the more intimate facts of consciousness, it 
must be vigorously rejected. Unless it is made to play the sub- 
sidiary rdle of an instrumentality for the achievement of educa- 
tional purposes its influence on educational thinking will be per- 
nicious. A philosophy of education must not be held in bondage 
by its servant, behaviorism. 


After this short excursion into the realm of philosophical 
speculation, the reader will be gratified to turn to the study 
of reflection. 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


1. Why is language always symbolic? Why is language, whether ges- 
tural, spoken, or written, of such essential significance to man? 

2. Why is man unable to conduct elaborate trains of thought without 
language? 

3. Why is a wealth of language mechanisms so important for economi- 
cal and accurate thinking? 

4. Why, in times of emotional and intellectual tension, is there a con- 
stant tendency to allow the implicit language mechanisms to become 
explicit? 

5. What are the main objections to the common-sense view that 
“thought” can affect ‘‘conduct’’? ; 

6. What is the objection to the theory which assumes that consciousness 
is a biological superfluity? 

7. Why is the theory of behaviorism so useful from the standpoint of 

methodology in education? 

. What réle does imagery play in the adaptive process? 

9. How would the establishment on firm scientific ground of the fact 
of telepathy upset the general theories of causation in psychology? 


ive) 


PROBLEM 8 
HOW IS EDUCATION CONDITIONED BY REFLECTION? 


What is reflection? — What is the adaptive significance of reflection? — 
What is the occasion of thought? — What is the process of thought? — 
What constitutes the solution of a problem? — How do errors in inference 
arise? — Why must society cultivate the reflective attitude in its mem- 
bers? — What are the uses and abuses of reflection? — What is the atti- 
tude of society towards creative thinking? — Can reflection be fostered? — 
How is reflection dependent upon intellectual fertility? — How is reflection . 
dependent on effectual auto-criticism? — Does the school encourage re- 
flection? — What must the school do to encourage reflection? 


What is reflection? Reflective conduct, on its physiological 
side, must be regarded as a manifestation of a complex in- 
teraction of internal drives working through mechanisms in 
which those related to language largely predominate. 
Nevertheless, the difference in complexity between habitual 
sensori-motor action, as popularly known, and reflective 
behavior is so great that for purposes of exposition it is per- 
missible to stress the distinction. We may rightly contrast 
unreflective behavior, controlled by simple habits, with re- 
flective behavior, the product of the action of the more in- 
tricate and symbolic language mechanisms. Whereas con- 
duct of the first type may be readily predicted, the complex- 
ity and symbolic nature of the interacting mechanisms in 
reflection make prediction a most hazardous undertaking. 
In common parlance, reflection has a narrower connota- 
tion than thought. Through ordinary usage the latter has 
come to mean any form of mental activity from day dream- 
ing and idle imagining to the most profound speculation of 
which man iscapable. According to the custom of psychol- 
ogists, thinking is restricted to those cases in which there is 
a conscious attempt to control activity by tracing out im- 


100 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


plications, deductions, and inferences. Binet, in his study 
of intelligence, calls attention to three characteristics of the 
reflective process: (1) its tendency to take and maintain a 
definite direction; (2) the capacity to make adaptations for 
the purpose of attaining a desired end; (3) the power of auto- 
criticism. Thinking occurs when the process of trial-and- 
error learning is transferred from the sensori-motor to the 
so-called ideational realm. Under these conditions, the 
behavior in question is adapted not to the immediate situa- 
tion, but to a situation spatially, temporally, and socially 
enlarged. Whatever makes the past, the distant, or the 
future predominate over the present, advances us in the dig- 
nity of thinking beings. This expansion of the adjustment 
process 1s made possible through the dispositions built up by 
past experience. Only to such processes, included under 
thinking, may the term reflection be strictly applied; but in 
the rest of this discussion the terms thinking and reflection 
will be used interchangeably. 

What is the adaptive significance of reflection? Biologi- 
cally considered, reflection is the most highly evolved device 
for coping with the problems arising from the interaction 
of the individual with his natural and social environment. 
This is apparent, but that the degree of the complexity of 
the environment of the cultivated man is cue largely to this 
power of reflection is not always so obvious. The idiot and 
the genius may both be submitted to the same external en- 
vironment, but the complexity of these surroundings to the 
latter will only be equalled by their simplicity to the former. 
The degree of complication which any environment is ca- 
pable of assuming is a function of the reflective powers. The 
philosopher not only attacks the obvious practical problems 
which are forced upon him by circumstances, but he, also, 
creates problems which to an unreflecting mind are non- 
existent. 


REFLECTION AND EDUCATION 101 


How does reflection operate in a concrete situation? 
Perhaps the most helpful way in which to gain a useful con- 
ception of the nature and significance of the process of re- 
flection is by a concrete illustration. The other day one of 
the writers walked into his lecture room expecting to find 
his class, when to his great astonishment he discovered an 
empty room. This was a situation that had never arisen 
before; it put him in a state of hesitation, for the event con- 
flicted with routine. Any ready-made response to this 
peculiar situation was not immediately available; the novelty 
of the circumstance was arresting. How was this astonish- 
ing state of affairs to be harmonized with the rest of experi- 
ence? What missing link could possibly be introduced into 
the chain of events to give order and sequence to an other- 
wise perplexing world? 

At once, various possible explanations or solutions of this 
disquieting problem came to mind. Certain tentative and 
likely guesses were followed up. Was this the usual hour? 
The watch said so. Was the watch right? Yes, it agreed 
with the university clock system. Had some mistake been 
made in the day or room? ‘The previous occurrences of the 
day confirmed the fact that such was not the case. This 
was the only lecture room used on that day. Had classes 
been sacrificed to some other event by university authority? 
On telephoning to the office he had to abandon this hypothe- 
sis. Perchance there had been a strike? As an instructor 
he had never been a taskmaster; his teaching was probably 
no worse than the usual efforts in this direction; further- 
more, he had seen no signs of a bellicose disposition in any 
members of the class. Was there some practical joke? Per- 
haps, but no known reason for it. So, hypothesis after 
hypothesis, guess after guess was tried, each one increasing 
the tension. He was about to give up the matter, and, with 
the problem unsolved, turn to some other work, when it sud- 


102 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


denly occurred to him that two weeks previously he had 
made tentative arrangements for the class, instead of attend- 
ing the usual morning period, to engage in experimental 
work in the laboratory during the afternoon. He was not 
aware that this tentative arrangement had been given any 
finality; but here was a promising lead. ‘To test it he walked 
over to the library, and discovered several of his students 
quietly reading. All thought of a strike was dissipated! 
But was his guess correct? Yes, on questioning the stu- 
dents, he was glad to hear that they were of the belief that 
the tentative suggestion was a final arrangement; they were 
coming to the laboratory in the afternoon. ‘The knowledge 
of this fact brought order into the sequence of events and 
relieved the state of tension. 

What is the occasion of thought? In the light of this 
illustration the act of thought can be considered from the 
standpoint of: (1) its occasion; and (2) its process. Put 
briefly, the occasion of all thought is some problem or per- 
plexity which necessitates adaptation on the part of the 
individual through a process of trial and error in the mental 
rather than the motor realm. To the vast majority of situa- 
tions, at least in their more superficial aspects, previous 
habits and experience furnish adequate responses. Only as 
a situation arises to. which previous experience provides 
no ready-made adequate mode of behavior is the reflective 
process made necessary. ‘Thinking takes place only when 
automatic responses fail. Whatever may be the minor or 
accidental elements of the situation which provokes thought, 
the one common element is some perplexity or obscurity, 
some event which does not harmonize with other events, 
some end which can be attained only by a conscious adapta- 
tion and use of the means at disposal. As long as it is possi- 
ble to follow the beaten track and run in the easy groove of 
habit, the higher mental processes are inactive. Only when 


REFLECTION AND EDUCATION 103 


some practical or intellectual difficulty arises, when some 
unexpected hindrance appears, is the mind quickened into 
activity; and even when the obstacle is present the thinker 
must be intent on surmounting it. The obstacle, in other 
words, does not of itself cause the individual to think, it 
_ provides merely the occasion for thought. In summary, 
reflection occurs and proceeds: (1) when there is a definite 
problem which calls for an ideational trial-and-error proc- 
ess; (2) when the problem is of sufficient interest to rouse 
the energy necessary for the attack; and (3) when the diffi- 
culty of the problem is within the capacity of the thinker. 
Most thinking is done for the purpose of solving relatively 
simple practical problems. In cases of this type, owing to 
the limited use of abstraction, relatively little demand is 
made on the more intricate language mechanisms. But in 
the degree that the problem becomes complex all the re- 
sources of a highly abstract symbolism are employed. 
How do problems originate? ‘The straightforward state- 
ment that thinking is occasioned by some problem arising 
in the course of experience, is misleading, if it conveys the 
impression that all problems force themselves upon atten- 
tion. This simple notion must be combated. Problems of 
the higher order do not challenge attention as does the rising 
sun, or as a fence blocking the path of the pedestrian. The 
problem does not spring Minerva-like out of the surround- 
ings, but is, at all times, the product of the interaction of 
the environment and an individual, whose past experience 
has left a certain behavior-set. In the absence of these con- 
siderations the common fact may not be explained that a 
situation, to which habit has furnished a satisfying response 
a thousand times or more, suddenly takes on a new meaning 
and manifests a new problem. What has caused the change? 
Obviously nothing in the external world. Why then, failing 
to react in the habitual manner, does the individual hesitate 


104 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


and ponder the circumstance? What causes this familiar 
situation to become so unexpectedly pregnant with further 
significance? ‘The answer to this question must be found in 
the state of the individual at the time the familiar situation 
is encountered. Due to past experience, remote or immedi- 
ate, a certain behavior-set must be functioning which is so 
different from the previous sets as to make the old reactions 
inadequate. ‘To these subtle changes of set, that vary from 
moment to moment, the great intellectual and social inven- 
tions must be ascribed. 

Education, by changing the behavior-set, fills the envi- 
ronment with problems; not only is the student made to 
realize the presence of new perplexities, but he is also stimu- 
lated to be extremely critieal of, and in many cases dissatis- 
fied with, customary and commonly accepted explanations. 
So far is this carried in modern society that im our research 
departments specialists devote their time exclusively to the 
search for problems which, in the ordinary course of living, 
would never thrust themselves on thé unreflective. Only 
as society frees certain of its members from the necessity of 
devoting their attention to the more pressing and primitive 
problems growing out of the need for clothing, shelter, and 
food, can it expect to have its more subtle problems per- 
ceived and solved. In a democratic society, relative free- 
dom from the more immediate and petty demands of life 
should be a free gift only to those individuals who can 
make this respite socially profitable by attacking the more 
recondite problems of our civilization. 

What is the process of thought? Having considered the 
occasion of thought, the process itself remains to be ex- 
amined. When, as in the illustration given, habitual re- 
sponses no longer suffice to remove the perplexity, sugges- 
tions or leads from previous experience are followed. From 
the standpoint of its bearing on the question, each one of 


REFLECTION AND EDUCATION 105 


these leads or suggestions is carefully examined. Adoption 
or rejection of the tentative hypothesis takes place accord- 
ing as it appears to satisfy or to fail to satisfy the conditions 
of the problem. Dewey, in his analysis of the complete act 
of thought, directs attention to the following “five logi- 
cally distinct steps”’: 
(1) Occurrence of the vague problen —a felt difficulty; 
(2) Localization and limitation of the problem, analysis 
of its precise nature; 
(3) Exploration for possible suggestions, hypotheses, 
generalizations, and explanations; 
(4) Rational and experimental elaboration of the pro- 
posed hypothesis; and 
(5) Adoption or rejection of the hypothesis in the light of 
its implications and consequences. 
If not interpreted too rigidly, such an analysis 1s helpful and 
illuminating. It presents different forms which the thought- 
process is capable of assuming, rather than five stages which 
must be passed through in a serial order. Each one of the 
steps, instead of involving an isolated and different mental 
process, requires the act of thought itself. To realize, for 
example, that the situation is problematical, that it presents 
some factor which does not harmonize with the rest of the 
experience, involves the processes of inference and deduc- 
tion. ‘That the realization of the problem demands in- 
ference is apparent when the problem is complex, but this 
point is equally true when the problem is comparatively 
straightforward. A stalled engine on a hill is only a prob- 
lematical situation as one realizes that the present state of 
affairs means lateness and inconvenience and responsibility 
for an inert piece of machinery. ‘To the Small child the 
halting of the car means nothing more than a glorious op- 
portunity to gather flowers by the roadside. Similarly, in 
the second stage of localization of the precise nature of the 


106 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


problem, to see that the wider question reduces itself to the 
narrower issue requires a process of deduction, inference, 
and guessing. If we bear this fact in mind, and, on this 
account, refuse to force the most subtle mental process into 
a stereotyped sequence of events, the analysis is valuable 
because it calls attention to the different aspects which a 
complete act of thought assumes. — 

What constitutes the solution of a problem? In order to 
decide what constitutes the solution of a problem, attention 
must be directed to the fact that logically all reasoning, 
which does not, as in mathematics, follow axiomatically 
from certain definitions, takes place on a balance of proba- 
bilities. When the inference is made from a broken window 
that a missile of some kind has been thrown, the process of 
thought is guided by a balance of probability. On finding a 
foreign object in the room, the inference is commonly re- 
garded as established. ‘This can only mean that the balance 
of probability in favor of the inference has been greatly in- 
creased, but the proof is not absolute and rests merely on a 
more favorable balance of probability. Conceivably the 
window might have been broken with a hammer and the 
missile thrown through the broken pane. Naturally, when 
the balance of probability becomes sufficiently great, it is 
feasible to speak of an inference as being established. Not, 
however, until every conceivable hypothesis but one has 
been tested and rejected, can the correctness of the solution 
be assumed. This shows that probability can only become 
certainty for an infinite mind. 

This brings us to the question: What constitutes for a 
finite mind the solution of any difficulty or perplexity? It 
has already been pointed out that the problem arises be- 
cause it sets up within the thinker an internal tension; we 
must suppose therefore that psychologically the solution is 
reached when this internal tension is relieved. But does 


REFLECTION AND EDUCATION 107 


this mean that a satisfactory solution has been reached? 
For the particular individual and for the moment, “ Yes.” 
But may not the solution beerroneous? For the individual, 
solution only means that the particular fact has been made 
to harmonize with his own limited experience. What then 
constitutes an adequate solution? Such a solution must 
bring the particular occurrence into relation with all the 
relevant facts, and not merely with those facts which are 
known to an isolated and unenlightened person. 

Two illustrations will make this point clear. The native 
Australian, on discovering himself afflicted with some ill- 
ness, will reconcile this fact with the rest of his experience 
by attributing it to a spell thrown by the witch doctor in the 
service of his enemy. ‘This solution of the problem is so 
adequate to the sufferer, and is so in accord with his usual 
modes of thought that, in the event of his death, his friends, 
bound by the same system of explanation, will feel them- 
selves in honor bound to exact the life of hisenemy. Super- 
stitions are nothing more than inadequate explanations. 
The second illustration will show, at a more sophisticated 
level, the manner in which incorrect solutions are readily 
accepted. The political partisan, compelled to reconcile 
the overwhelming defeat of his party at the polls with his 
own unbounded faith in its sterling integrity and consum- 
mate wisdom, easily does so by ascribing the debacle to the 
nefarious practices of the opposing group. 

How do errors in inference arise? Wrong inferences of 
this kind are all too readily made. The field of reasoning is 
such a fertile soil for fallacy that the formal statement of a 
few commonly accepted principles may be useful. If we fol- 
low the analysis of Karl Pearson, four caveats may be issued: 

1. Superfluous or more remote causes must never be 
sought until the more obvious methods of explanation have 
proved inadequate. 


108 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


2. In the minor affairs of life where rapidity of decision is 
essential, inference must inevitably take place on slender 
evidence, and belief, on a small balance of probability, but 
this necessity must not blind the individual to the dangerous 
consequences of this practice when applied to the more im- 
portant affairs of life. 

3. The truth of any statement may be safely inferred only 
when its contents are consistent and continuous with the 
rest of experience, and when there is reasonable ground for 
supposing that the source of the statement is an individual 
knowing and reporting the facts. 

4. Inference from the known to the unknown is possibla 
only in so far as the unknown is of the same nature as the 
known, and in similar surroundings. 

Space will not permit more than a brief comment on each 
of these points. When the first principle is not recognized, 
the way is open for all kinds of magical explanation, such as 
that found in the superstition associated with the falling of a 
picture. The second statement calls attention to the ever- 
present tendency to justify thoughtless behavior on the 
erounds that life is short and time is fleeting. In the third 
principle, where the importance of examining the reliability 
and source of any statement or doctrine is stressed, the 
credibility of evidence is given consideration. Unless care 
is taken to observe this rule, thought is spent in explaining 
events that were falsely reported, and mere tradition or 
hearsay is regarded as furnishing adequate material on 
which to rear the superstructure of explanation. Often it 
is the “will to doubt ” that needs encouragement. The 
fourth principle emphasizes the point that, while thinking 
must proceed from the known to the unknown, only in so 
far as the unknown has the properties of the known is sound 
inference possible. To assume that an administrative de- 
vice which has worked well in one country will, when trans- 


REFLECTION AND EDUCATION 109 


lated to another, function with equal success, is legitimate 
only as the relevant conditions of the two countries are 
identical. 

Why must society cultivate the reflective attitude in its 
members? Urgent need exists for the cultivation of the 
reflective attitude of mind. For the sake of economy of 
action, ideational adjustment must be substituted for the 
time-consuming and dangerous trial-and-error process char- 
acteristic of animal behavior. In the interests of attaining 
a richness and breadth of action, the powers of reflection 
must be cultivated by each individual to the limit of his 
capacity. Only in so far as we are capable, through the 
process of reflection, of passing from the present event to its 
past and future meaning are we able to sense those persistent 
and ideal harmonies which impart worth to life. 

The person, whose inability to reflect renders him in- 
capable of taking heed to his ways, is so dangerous to society 
that special institutions have been created, at public ex- 
pense, to guard him and others from the consequences of his 
action. In these institutions the life of the inmates is re- 
duced to the simplest elements, and routine takes the place 
of decision. ‘Their problems are solved for them; their life- 
plans are imposed by others. In such an institution a 
gracious paternalism fittingly rules, but such a system of 
control, when applied to individuals capable of reflection, is 
rightly regarded as immoral. If the process of living is to 
exert its maximum educative effect, the normal members of 
society must be carefully guarded from any form of govern- 
ment which interferes unduly with their liberties of action 
and thought. Without clear thinking in all departments of 
life, man easily, and one might also say willingly, degener- 
ates into a creature of circumstance, a slave of supersti- 
tion, and a vassal of prejudice. Only as man understands 
the activities and processes of life can he guide them, or re- 


110 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


ceive from them their intellectual and moral teaching. In 
the day of crisis reflection is the only resort; and at all times 
it is the one activity which is essential “if a steadfast art of 
living is to supervene upon instinct and dream.” Without 
-it life becomes flat, stale, and unprofitable, for living then 
loses its most precious element — its educative value. 

What are the uses and abuses of reflection? James 
Harvey Robinson, who may be accused of overstressing the 
power of reflection in solving the problems of mankind, has 
brought out in an interesting, if provoking, manner the way 
in which thought is employed for three different purposes. 
Its most familiar occasion is found in the minor practical 
problems which arise from hour to hour in the ordinary 
course of living. Thought of this kind demands no elabo- 
rate cultivation, and is used by savage and civilized man 
alike. This indispensable use of thinking is contrasted with 
the second and illegitimate use of such a high function, 
known as rationalization. In this process the individual 
justifies lines of conduct which are not pursued for the pur- 
pose of achieving reasonable and social ends, but because 
they have that imperative urge which accompanies a primi- 
tive desire or the almost equally imperative urge of custom, 
habit, or tradition. How often do we catch ourselves in the 
act of using a laborious process of reasoning to justify a line 
of conduct, the true motive of which we know to be irra- 
tional, or even anti-social! The mental energy which should 
be devoted to evaluating behavior is prostituted to the task 
of justifying, to ourselves and our fellows, the selfish pur- 
suits of individual ends. 

Presumably the reader is not so completely dominated by 
humane and intellectualistic considerations that his own ex- 
perience will not provide all too many illustrations of this 
deplorable practice. How rare is the man who can say with 
Anatole France, “* I have sought truth strenuously: I have 


REFLECTION AND EDUCATION 111 


met her boldly — I have never turned from her, even when 
she wore an unexpected aspect.” Could the energy which 
is used in rationalization be applied to the third use of re- 
flection, and employed in the solution of the problems of our 
eivilization, nothing short of a new world would arise — the 
dreams of young men would come to pass, and the visions 
of old men would be realized. ‘The problems of mankind, 
the problems of health, of family life, of economic existence, 
of national and international relations, of leisure, of religion 
and morals — these can only be met by creative thinking, 
and then only by thinking guided and enriched by deep 
feeling. Rationalization holds man in the grip of the folk- 
ways; creative thought guides him out of the folkways into 
the path of progress. False rationalization tends to rec- 
oncile man to the fetters which creative thought bursts 
asunder. 

- What is the attitude of society towards creative thinking? 
To the fact that the enthusiasm for creative thought is com- 
paratively rare must be added the fact that it is extremely 
modern. Its conscious cultivation is exhibited by but a 
small part of mankind, and by that part for but a short 
period during a history of incalculable length. Sir Henry 
Maine has attributed the stagnation of the Chinese civiliza- 
tion to the fact that, over long periods, attention was given 
exclusively to the copying and the memorization of rela- 
tively useless classics. This learning contained neither 
mathematics nor science, and involved an emphasis on 
rules of thumb rather than on principles. Similarly, to the 
long delay in the coming of scientific invention in the west- 
ern world must be attributed the way in which a narrow 
religion, stressing other-worldliness, occupied the attention 
of the most acute and devout minds of the middle ages. By 
directing attention to the solution of arid problems, accepted 
intellectual prejudices can stifle creative thought. ‘This is 


112 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


well illustrated by the following resolution,! which was 
passed in solemn conclave at the Congregation of Prelates 
and Cardinals on June 22, 1633: 


The doctrine that the earth is neither the centre of the universe 
nor immoveable, but moves even with a daily rotation, is absurd, 
and both philosophically and theologically false, and at the least 
an error of faith. 


One may smile at such an edict as this, but Darwin, two 
hundred and fifty years later, faced the same conservatism. 
In our own day experimentation in the field of medicine and - 
eugenics, and bold speculation in the region of economic 
and political, social and religious theory, is given the same 
hostile reception. And even in modern education there are 
still relics of the medieval finalism which sought to give 
finished explanations to all problems of existence; in many 
departments that interrogative attitude, that straight- 
forwardness, that open-mindedness which is essential to 
thought, is repressed so that some sacred dogma or estab- 
lished social privilege shall remain uncriticized. As Ber- 
trand Russell says: 


Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth — more 
than ruin, more even than death.. Thought is subversive and 
revolutionary, destructive and terrible; thought is merciless te 
privilege, established institutions and comfortable habits: thought 
is anarchic and lawless, indifferent’to authority, careless of the 
well-tried wisdom of the ages. 


The conservative, and, therefore, the larger element of 
society, while it gives lip service to great thinkers and re- 
formers, is too prone to curb them whenever the results of 
their thought begin to disturb the more intimate folkways 
and break the cherished cake of custom. For this reason, 
education, with its evolutionary concept stressing the neces- 


1 Cited by Karl Pearson, in his The Grammar of Science. 


REFLECTION AND EDUCATION 113 


sity for continuous change and greater adaptability, must 
direct its energy and order its ways sc that thinking in 
every member of society, with reference to every phase of 
life, may be not merely tolerated but whole-heartedly and 
studiously encouraged. 

Can reflection be fostered? In enlightened circles, what- 
ever differences there may be with regard to the objectives 
of education, there is unanimity respecting the fundamental 
importance of inculcating sound habits of thinking. Un- 
fortunately the agreement with reference to the objective 
does not extend to agreement on the methods which can be 
most profitably used in its attainment. While all are pre- 
pared to regard this function as one of the main goals, the 
methods by which various schools propose to reach this end 
have been astoundingly diverse. The reasons for this di- 
versity are to be traced to the extreme complexity of the 
thought process; fruitful reflection is dependent upon a mul- 
tiplicity of factors. It is not surprising, therefore, that the 
various schools of educational thought have, in their at- 
tempt to train this process, given very different weights to 
these contributing factors. 

The dream of the educator is to formulate so clearly the 
steps of the complete act of thought, to issue such clear 
warnings as to possible places of stumbling, that, in spite of 
the difficulty of the journey, all the faithful may be guided 
safely along the road which leads to effective and critical 
behavior. But it will always remain a dream, for the path 
of thinking can never be made so straight that the way- 
faring man though a fool shall not err therein. Such a 
direct statement of the various aspects of the thought proc- 
ess as that made by Dewey tends to convey the impression 
that, for its successful operation, a clear recognition of 
these various steps will suffice. Many have felt that if only 
sufficient ingenuity could be used, if only the requirements 


114 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


of the process could be completely laid bare and rigidly 
enough defined, somehow or other, this most important 
adaptive process could be brought within the reach of all. 
With the best of motives people have even gone so far as to 
suggest that special courses in the art of thinking should be 
included in the curriculum of the schools. ‘Three considera- 
tions will be sufficient to show the absurdity of trying to 
reduce thinking to a mechanical procedure, a procedure 
which will be available to all in much the same way that a 
mechanical invention can be made available to the whole 
population. 

How is reflection dependent upon factual information? In 
the first place, thinking does not proceed in vacuo. Think- 
ing takes place only with reference to a particular body of 
facts; defactualized thinking is as absurd as a de-mechanized 
automobile engine. So important are facts for this process 
that the school, forgetting that knowledge only serves its 
function as it may be used in reflection, has gone to the ex- 
treme of imparting facts for their own sake. To attempt to 
train a person to think in a certain realm of knowledge, 
without providing him with information in the field, is 
veritably to attempt to make bricks without straw. This, 
then, is the first difficulty in any project for training thought 
in general. 

How is reflection dependent upon intellectual fertility? 
The second difficulty lies in the fact that every problem is 
dependent for its solution upon a fertility of thought which 
will provide the necessary suggestions, inferences, and 
hypotheses. After the hypothesis is advanced the process 
of testing is often relatively simple. It is at this crucial 
stage in the complete act of thought, the point at which 
brilliant guessing must take place, that any reduction of the 
thought process to straightforward pattern halts. There is 
no method of forcing the suggestion; the mind may be tense 


REFLECTION AND EDUCATION 115 


with expectation; desire for solution may be at a maximum; 
but still the happy thought may not come to mind. 

If the reader will try to solve the following problem, not- 
ing very carefully what happens when the guess or hypothe- 
sis stage is reached, he will see the utter impossibility of 
forcing this part of the process: A certain word contains 
seven letters, the second letter is v and the last ise. Itisa 
human trait and facilitates the accumulation of wealth. It 
is also the cause of much suffering. In his Inquiries into 
the Human Faculty, Galton illustrates the same point.! 


When I am engaged in trying to think anything out, the process 
of doing so appears to me to be this: The ideas that lie at any 
moment within my full consciousness seem to attract of their 
own accord the most appropriate out of a number of other ideas 
that are lying close at hand, but imperfectly within the range of 
my consciousness. ‘There seems to be a presence-chamber in my 
mind where full consciousness holds court, and where two or three 
ideas are at the same time in audience, and an antechamber full 
of more or less allied ideas, which is situated just beyond the full 
ken of consciousness. Out of this ante-chamber the ideas most 
nearly allied to those in the presence-chamber appear to be sum- 
moned in a mechanically logical way, and to have their turn of 
audience. ... The successful progress of thought appears to 
depend — first, on a large attendance in the ante-chamber; 
secondly, on the presence there of no ideas except such as are 
strictly germane to the topic under consideration; thirdly, on the 
justness of the logical mechanism that issues the summons. ‘The 
thronging of the ante-chamber is, I am convinced, altogether be- 
yond my control; if the ideas do not appear, I cannot create them, 
nor compel them to come. 


“The wind bloweth where it listeth ” seems to be, as far 
as self-analysis reveals, a fair description of the subtlety of 
the processes which lie back of this elaborate act of guessing. 
If the reader had difficulty in guessing the word “ avarice ” 


1 Cited by Thorndike, in his Principles of Psychology. ” 


116 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


in the riddle cited, the significance of this statement will be 
apparent. 

If tentative solutions come to the mind, well and good; if 
not, neither prayers, entreaties, nor sweat of the brow can 
force them to appear. All that can be said is that a person, 
well equipped with the necessary factual information and 
endowed with high native intelligence, is more apt to be 
fertile in suggestion than one possessing less information 
and endowed with inferior intelligence. Certainly the 
process itself can never be coerced; one can merely urge the 
thinker to keep his attention focussed on the main problem 
by repeatedly putting subsidiary questions to himself, in 
the hope that the desired solution will eventually be reached. 

How is reflection dependent on effectual auto-criticism? 
The third obstacle which has to be encountered, when at- 
tempting to reduce thought to a simple process, is the pitfall 
which ensnares the mind into accepting superficial and in- 
adequate solutions. This matter has already been dis- 
cussed, but it is well to mention it again. Unfortunately 
there 1s no magic bell which announces the correct solution 
of the problem. ‘Thought arises because of internal tension, 
and ceases when this internal tension is relieved. Only in 
an extremely acute mind, which is already capable of stren- 
uous and rigorous thinking, is the disappearance of the 
tension any adequate guarantee that the correct solution 
has been reached. While this difficulty is not met in deal- 
ing with simple practical problems, where failure is attended 
by an obviously unsatisfactory result, it forces itself on at- 
tention in all abstract fields. If a man fails to solve the 
problem of a stalled engine, his failure is patent — the 
machine refuses to budge; but the same individual, when 
pondering the cause of a particular war, may accept an 
erroneous answer and, at the same time, feel satisfied with 
the explanation. All of us “ solve ” hundreds of problems 


REFLECTION AND EDUCATION 117 


in this unsatisfactory way without being brought to book 
for our sins. Into a vicious circle is the immature thinker 
thrown when given no guidance in the more abstract fields 
of learning; for the purpose of being trained in reflection he 
engages in the activity, and yet only as his mind is already 
disciplined is he capable of evaluating the solution. These 
considerations, showing how utterly futile is the endeavor to 
reduce correct thinking to any mechanical process, reveal 
the extent to which the learner, if he is to receive the maxi- 
mum benefit from the activity, is dependent on skilful 
guidance. 

Does the school encourage reflection? Enough has been 
said to indicate how Herculean, or rather Socratic, is the 
task which the school undertakes when seeking to foster in 
its pupils the power of thought. Later a more detailed an- 
alysis will be made of this problem, but to give point to the 
present discussion at this juncture, methods, curriculum, 
and personnel of the teaching force should be briefly eval- 
uated from the standpoint of this objective. 

To aid the reader in making this evaluation the following 
questions may be asked. Does the teaching of the school 
center around problems? Are such problems as arise of 
sufficient intellectual or social interest to warrant the effort 
expended in solution? Is the curriculum selected and or- 
ganized from the standpoint of furthering growth in reflec- 
tion? Are the textbooks written im a manner calculated to 
foster the problem-solving attitude of mind? Is the teach- 
ing personnel itself highly endowed with the mentality that 
seeks and aggressively attacks problems? Question after 
question of this disquieting nature might be asked, to each 
of which the answer would have to be largely in the nega- 
tive. Why has the school fallen so far short of its high 
callmg? Our duty is not merely to point out the failure of 
the institution; we must push the inquiry further and show 


118 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


reasons for the error. It is a safe canon to assume that no 
widespread evil exists without good reason. In order to 
institute remedial measures, and at the risk of appearing to 
condone the faults of the school, we may well examine here 
some of the more obvious extenuating circumstances. 

How does the memoriter tradition of the school discour- 
age reflection? In the first place, all thinking is dependent 
for its content on a body of information; only as the pupil is 
informed will problems be visible or soluble. The school- 
master has been so impressed with the need of imparting 
information, of filling the void of immaturity, that he has 
studied and reduced to a fine art the process of cramming 
uninteresting material into passively resisting or passively 
assisting minds! In his lust for facts he has forgotten too 
often that these are only significant as they contribute to 
the solution of problems. But the schoolmaster, knowing 
that thinking is a slow and laborious process, contents him- 
self with presenting to memory the material for thought and, 
losing heart, fails to give exercise in the thought process it- 
self. For many teachers information has ceased to be a 
means and has become an end in itself. But in defence of 
the classroom teacher it must be remembered that he is 
called upon to present material which in its nature and 
amount makes the problem-method of instruction ex- 
tremely difficult. 

This evil in present practice can only be laid at the feet of 
the teacher to the extent that he is responsible for the con- 
struction of the course of study. It must be traced rather 
to the detached administrative official who has either never 
known, or has completely forgotten, the limitations of the 
human mind. This office-bound individual insists that year 
after year the sterile procedure of imparting information be 
repeated, in the hope that after a certain period of latency 
the pupil will begin spontaneously to think for himself. 


REFLECTION AND EDUCATION 119 


How does the dulling of curiosity in the teacher discour- 
age reflection? _A second difficulty facing the teacher must 
also be mentioned. A considerable period of time elapses 
between greeting material as a learner and imparting it as 
an instructor. Any sense of mystery, therefore, which at 
one time enshrouded a study has long since vanished. The 
subject-matter, if it has not been repeated a hundred times, 
has all the staleness of a twice-told tale. Only interest in 
the constantly varying psychological processes of the learner 
will avail to counteract the necessary but unfortunate cir- 
cumstance that prevents the teacher from being a co-dis- 
coverer with the child. 

How do individual differences in the group discourage 
reflection? ‘The third and most widespread obstacle which 
the teacher meets remains to be discussed. ‘Thinking is the 
most intricate and exhausting mode of adjustment; it is the 
most highly evolved integrative device for meeting crises. 
Much as children differ in the gross physical traits of height 
and weight, much as they differ in such simple capacities as 
tapping, steadiness, or throwing a dart, they differ far more, 
at any particular age, in their powers of critical analysis and 
in their fertility of mental response. Over these subtle 
forms of human behavior the teacher can at best have little 
control. Yet he is confronted, in every large class, with the 
widest range of talent from the borderline case of feeble- 
mindedness up to the level of very superior intelligence. ‘To 
force an individual of low capacity to think with reference 
to a relatively abstract problem is an utter impossibility. 
Make the problem sufficiently easy and even the lowest will 
reflect in an elementary way, but this is the one thing that 
cannot be done in the school as now organized. The curricu- 
lum is relatively fixed — the same for all pupils of the same 
chronological age. Under these conditions it is little wonder 
that memory drills are substituted for thinking exercises. 


120 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


What must the school do to encourage reflection? Here 
is not the place to take up the manner in which these diffi- 
culties may be met; it must suffice at this juncture, to point 
them out and call attention to the necessity for their careful 
study if the school is to change its ways. Different text- 
books, different courses of study, more homogeneous group- 
ings, a different mental level of teachers, different training 
of teachers — these are some of the changes that must be 
made before any radical alteration can be made in the 
effectiveness of the school. 

How does the task of encouraging reflection influence the 
curriculum? ‘T’o avoid misunderstanding one must add 
that thinking, like appreciation, cannot be so cultivated as 
to function with equal effectiveness in all fields. The act of 
thought involves both method and content; while the 
former varies in different realms, the latter changes com- 
pletely from field to field. A bitter war is now waging as to 
whether certain subjects such as Latin and mathematics, 
subjects rich in procedure values but meager in social 
values, shall be taught in preference to the more socially 
meaningful studies such as civics, sociology, and psychology, 
which, from their very nature, are less exacting in their 
intellectual demands. As far as one can judge the present 
trend is away from the more rigorous disciplines to the less 
exacting studies. To what extent shall procedure values be 
sacrificed to content values? For what individuals shall 
such sacrifice be made? These and many other questions 
of the curriculum will be dealt with later; their adequate 
solution awaits a vast amount of experimental work on in- 
terest and on the problem of the degree to which facility 
gained in thinking in one field transfers, in individuals of 
various levels of intelligence, to other fields of activity. 
These problems are the concern of the formal educational 
agencies, but the question of encouraging and stimulating 


REFLECTION AND EDUCATION 121 


thought has much larger implications. Our whole society 
must be so ordered and integrated that in the process of 
living each of its members will be called upon to exercise, to 
the limit of his capacity, those critical and creative powers 
upon which human betterment depends. 


10. 


11. 


12. 


13. 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


. Why does the process of reflection necessarily involve delayed action? 


How does this delayed action bring a speedier solution? 


. Show how, in the case of reflection, the trial-and-error process per- 


sists, but in the ideational rather than in the realm of action? How 
are the life processes of the organism guarded thereby? . 


. Are facility in the discovery of problems, fertility of thought, critical 


acumen, and effective action necessarily associated in the same 
individual? In a codperative enterprise may these functions be 
specialized in different individuals? 


. Show how past experience works in the twofold direction of reduc- 


ing the necessity for thought, and of furnishing the material for 
thought? 


. Why is reflection so fatiguing and annoying to individuals and so- 


ciety? 


. What justification is there for the statement that the so-called 


“practical man”’ is the man who meets situations as his grandfather 
did? Contrast the reflective type with the practical type? Why in 
the novel and complicated situation does the “practical man”’ fail? 


. What are the dangers to which the reflective type of mind is subject? 
. Why have earthquakes, floods, droughts, wars, and plagues played 


such an important part in the growth of thought and the advance of 
civilization? 


. Why is society so ready to allow the application of the scientific 


method to the study of the natural world, and so cautious in apply- 
ing it to the world of men? 

What limits are set to the free play of thought in the fields of health, 
family, industry, citizenship, recreation, religion? Illustrate your 
answers. 

What factors in the ordinary large school system discourage, in the 
teaching force, the free play of thought on professional problems? 
Why is it so easy for the school to concern itself with the imparting of 
information rather than with the encouragement of thought? How 
can this danger be avoided? 

Why is the small group favorable to reflection? List the physical and 
psychological conditions favorable to effective discussion. What 


bearing do these conditions have on classroom procedure? 


122 


14. 


15. 


16. 


1, 


18. 


19. 


PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


In what way could textbooks be improved in order that they might — 
more effectively stimulate the problem-solving attitude of mind? 
Arrange the following subjects in the order in which, as ordinarily 
taught, they make exacting demands on the thinking process: manual 
training, physical exercise, Latin, algebra, geometry, sociology, phys- 
ics, history, geology, logic, chemistry, English composition, music, 
German, French, domestic science. 

How does the skillful teacher give exercise to his class in each aspect 
of the complete thought process? 

At what stage in the process of reasoning is rationalization defective? 
How do students rationalize the following: low academic standing, 
the use of ponies or keys, absence and tardiness, success of others, 
the defeat of school teams, the popularity of others? Why is there 
resort to rationalization? 

How does the teacher rationalize the following: failure of the student, 
dislike of the supervisor, friction with parents and pupils, popularity 
of other teachers, failure to secure increase of salary, resistance to 
change in the curriculum or procedure of the school? 

How can the pathetic credulity of the ordinary citizen be reduced? 
What specific methods would you use to attain this end in the 
(a) elementary school; (b) secondary school; (c) college? 


PROBLEM 9 


HOW DOES PERSONALITY EMERGE THROUGH 
EDUCATION? 


What is personality? — What is the origin of the social self? — Is 
the growth of the self explicable in terms of habit formation? — What ma- 
terial and social forces modify behavior? — What are the limitations of 
these methods of control? — How may the school control the nature of the 
ideal gallery? — How do abstract principles derive force to modify behavior? 
— To what extent is conduct rational? — Why is personality so complex? 
— What is abnormal behavior? — What is Freud’s central hypothesis? — 
What is the complex? — How does conflict arise? — How is it resolved? — 
How does projection operate? — What is the place of phantasy in mental 
life? — How does the inferiority-complex operate? — What is the educa- 
tional responsibility? 

What is personality? ‘The ‘personality of a man is re- 
vealed by the sum total of his specific responses to particular 
situations. When out of the sum total of these responses, 
those which have relation to the accepted conventions and 
codes of morals are specially considered, the term character 
rather than personality is commonly used. On account of 
our concern in education with those aspects of personality 
which are related to character, the two terms will be used 
interchangeably. A man’s effective personality at any time 
is shown by the manner in which he thinks, feels, and acts in 
the manifold situations of life; his potential personality 
could only be revealed by the manner in which he thought, 
felt, and acted in a host of situations sufficiently wide to 
embrace all phases of the social and material environment. 
Interpreting reactions broadly we may say, with Watson, 
that the term personality covers “an individual’s total as- 
sets on the reaction side.”” ‘The problem under discussion 
may therefore be stated as follows: What is the general 


124 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


nature of that interaction between the environment and 
original nature from which personality emerges? 

What is the origin of the social self? ‘The answer to this 
problem is simplified by our previous analysis of habit for- 
mation and reflection. Through habits of action, feeling, 
and thought is character formed and expressed: in the last 
analysis the mechanisms which determine character are 
habit mechanisms. To those forces which control habit 
formation we must turn, if we are to gain any clear under- 
standing of the manner in which personality develops. 

We need not concern ourselves with the process whereby 
the child comes to recognize the objects of the external 
world as being distinct from himself. ‘Through the sensa- 
tion produced in his own body when he strikes or pinches 
any part of it, a sensation which is lacking when he encoun- 
ters an external object, he comes to distinguish his own body 
from other objects. In a similar way, because of their 
movements and peculiar reactions to his stimulation, per- 
sons and animals in the external world become differen-~ 
tiated from the inanimate objects. This stage is usually 
marked by a crude type of animism in which the child 
ascribes human properties to some of the more important 
inanimate objects. ‘The child who, laughingly, rubs the 
corner of a chair which he has accidentally struck is giving 
expression to an old animistic notion. With the passage of 
time, to the behavior of other individuals like himself, the 
attention of the child is mainly directed. While he still 
finds it necessary in steering his course in the physical world 
to have regard for the inanimate objects of the environment, 
their very fixity and limited power to stimulate prevent 
their occupying the place which is accorded to living things, 
and more particularly to the members of his group. These 
individuals, especially the adults, are fraught with such 
potentialities for good and evil, with such powers of satisfy- 


PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 125 


ing and annoying, that the child finds them of absorbing 
interest. As we shall see later, the whole development of 
personality reflects the manner in which the rewards and 
punishments, the approvals and disapprovals, of society 
modify behavior. Due to his instinctive and acquired 
sensitiveness to the censure and commendation of others, a 
sensitiveness which leaps all rational bounds, man is contin- 
ual:y moulded by the herd. “‘ Nature has made man man’s 
constant study. His thought from infancy to the drawing 
up of his last will and testament is busy about his neighbor.” 
The desire to be not only in the herd, but of it, is to most 
individuals overmastering. As Whiting Williams, after 
studying closely the motivation of the working man, has 
said: “ It is unnecessary, in organized society, to say that the 
‘wheels’ of each of us are turned, for better or for worse, 
by our mainspring desire to enjoy the feeling of our worth 
as.a person among other persons, that individual feeling 
requiring always for its fullest satisfaction the surest possi- 
ble substantiation at the hands of some particular group 
whose approval happens, at the moment, to appear espe- 
cially pertinent and desirable.” So important is this proc- 
ess of change that the idea of the bodily self becomes 
dwarfed into insignificance by the side of that social self 
which is created by the interaction of the individual with 


his fellows. 
Is the growth of the seif explicable in terms of habit | 
formation? The reader has already studied the manner in 
which, at the beginning of life, all behavior follows instinc- 
tive lines; how gradually this instinctive behavior becomes | x 
modified by habit formation; how, as the habits become ine 
creasingly complex and symbolic, especially with the en- 
trance of language mechanisms, the behavior tends to lose 

the marks of its instinctive origin; how, as a result of mem- 

ory and reflection, the individual comes to react less and 





126 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


less to the immediate situation and more and more to a 
situation which is temporally, spatially, and socially en- 
larged. Eventually, as a result of these processes, the 
original instinctive behavior becomes so “ sicklied o’er with 
the pale cast of thought ” that only the closest analysis can 
detect the continuity which exists between the simple origi- 
nal behavior of the young child and the complex acquired 
behavior of the highly intellectualized and socialized adult. 
So great is the gulf that separates the final behavior of the 
cultivated man from its origins that many have felt im- 
pelled to introduce some new principle to explain the trans- 
formation. Not considering the process of habit formation 
and reflection as adequate to the task, they have postulated 
a special “ moral faculty,”’ “conscience,” or “ moral in- 
stinct ’; through the efficacy of this new force, so it is 
argued, the modification can only be explained. 


By taking an extreme illustration we may easily see how 


sweeping are those changes in original nature which force 
some moralists to reject the somewhat prosaic explanation 
of a slow change of disposition through habit formation and 
compel them to resort to the more drastic, if more mystical, 
position that some new force, some higher moral faculty, 
is directing behavior. Imagine an individual, schooled to 
reflective conduct, wandering by an unfrequented stream 
on a bitterly cold night. Ahead of him he sees his life-long 
enemy lose his footing, at a dangerous turn of the path, and 
fall into the dark and icy stream below. He watches him 
struggle for a moment, thinks how his death will simplify 
his own life, realizes that nobody will be aware of his pres- 
ence at the scene of the tragedy, etc., ete. Yet, in spite of 
these reflections, in spite of the strong tendencies to avoid 
the cold, in spite of the horrcr of gambling with death, some- 
thing drives him into the icy waters, and, at great peril and 
intense pain to himself, after an exhausting struggle, he 


| 


PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 127 


rescues the man from drowning and thus saves his enemy’s 
life. 

Is it any wonder that the moralist, when facing an heroic 
deed of this kind, so far removed from the instinctive level of 
behavior, feels impelled to introduce some higher principle 
of explanation? Unless the psychologist can bring such an 
extreme illustration into accord with the theory of modifica- 
tion of instinctive behavior by habit and reflection he also 
must assume the operation of other forces. No theory of 
character formation or of growth of personality is acceptable 
if it proves inadequate at the very point where character 
and personality manifest themselves in their most refined 
and elevated form. Profound must have been the trans- 
formation in the original equipment of an individual who is 
capable of performing such an act of self-sacrifice. Can 
alterations which convert animal reactions into conduct of 
this heroic mould be explained in terms of habit and reflec- 
tive mechanisms? The psychologist is compelled to assume 
this possibility. 

What material and social forces modify behavior? In 
order to justify this statement, we shall have to trace the 
changes wrought in the individual through his contact with 
the material and social environment. Whether the habit 
changes produced by the interaction of the individual with 
his surroundings are sufficient to explain these altruistic 
modes of behavior which each man identifies with “his 
better self ” is the problem now to be considered. | 

To this problem all students of ethics have offered solu- 
tions, but McDougall has presented in especially clear-cut 
form the various levels of conduct which must be reached 
before the highest form of moral conduct is possible. We 
cannot do better than give his own description of each 
level: } 

1 McDougall, William: Social Psychology, p. 181. 


128 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


1. The stage of instinctive behavior is modified only by the 
influence of the pains and pleasures that are incidentally experi- 
enced in the course of instinctive activity. 

2. The stage in which the operation of the instinctive impulses 
is modified by the influence of rewards and punishments, admin- 
istered more or less systematically by the social environment. 

3. The stage in which conduct is controlled, in the main, by the 
anticipation of social praise and blame.! 

4. The highest stage, in which conduct is regulated by an ideal 
of conduct that enables a man to act in the way that seems to him 
right, regardless of the praise or blame of his immediate social 
environment. 


How do the experienced consequences operate? An il- 
lustration of modifications produced at each one of these 
levels will make the process of education clear. The child 
who overeats and is sick, or the boy who climbs to a height 
and falls, modifies his subsequent behavior in the light of 
the consequences. The punishments and rewards of nature, 
which Spencer lauds in his essay on Moral Education are 
here operative. In the second stage the actual rewards and 
punishments of nature are replaced by those of his fellow- 
men. As we have seen, man reacts to the approval and 
disapproval of his fellows; he alters his behavior when he 
experiences their individual and more particularly their 
collective censure. The child, when he ceases to manifest 
temper because of the actual disapproval that followed its 
appearance, is at this level of conduct. | 

How does the anticipation of the approval of the actual 
society operate? ‘The important point to notice is that in 
the first two stages behavior is only changed because of the 
rebuff or encouragement experienced; there is no modifica- 
tion through anticipation of the consequences. ~ But the 
third stage, for which the two earlier stages pave the way, 


‘This must, of course, include the anticipation of the rewards and pun« 
ishiments of nature, 


PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 129 


marks a higher development; no longer is the individual 
constrained to change his behavior because he experiences 
actual approval or blame at the hands of his fellows; at this 
stage he anticipates the effects of natural forces and the 
rendering of the social judgment. Long before engaging in 
the overt action he sees the consequences implicit in his 
conduct; he discerns the handwriting on the wall. When 
the normal social force of approval and disapproval is 
augmented by great material and social rewards, on the one 
hand, and by formal ostracism and legal punishment on the 
other, the controlling effects of the anticipation of these 
rewards and punishments are vastly increased. The 
cashier who refrains from an act of forgery in the belief that 
sooner or later his act will come to light; the manufacturer 
who sacrifices present advantages in order that later he may 
amass wealth; the scientist who narrows his interests and 
concentrates his research that he may gain the Nobel Prize 
— all are actuated by motives at this level of development. 
In an advanced social environment, conduct at this plane 
may be of a very high order, but if these are the highest con- 
siderations which motivate behavior, conduct of any gran- 
deur or sublimity will never be achieved. A narrow inter- 
pretation of the word “ best ” in the proverb, “ Honesty is 
the best policy ” always marks behavior at this plane. 
How does the anticipation of the approval of an ideal so- 
ciety operate? In the highest stage, conduct is no longer 
modified in the light of actual consequences — in the inter- 
ests of securing the approval or avoiding the disapproval of 
members of the immediate group. At this stage the drama 
is performed not before the limited spectators which crowd 
the house, but before an imaginary gallery peopled by the 
prophets, priests, and seers in whose ideal presence the in- 
dividual has chosen to live. Not by arbitrary etiquette, by 
convention, and herd morality of “ his set,” but rather by 


130 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


those great precepts, admonitions and ideals — the dis- 
tillate of the wisdom and heroism of the ages —is his con- 
duct shaped. Browning, in Bishop Blougram’s Apology, 
gives us some idea of the manner in which this gallery be- 
comes more refined. 

Like Verdi when, at his worst opera’s end 

While the mad houseful’s plaudits near outbang 

His orchestra of salt box, tongs and bones 


He looks through all the roaring and the wreaths 
Where sits Rossini silent in his stall... 


One wise man’s verdict outweighs all the fools’. 


From Rossini in his stall to Rossini absent or dead is but 
a step, and the translation is but slight to the, imaginary 
gallery to which reference has been made. ‘That such an 
interpretation of the control of conduct is not exceptional is — 
illustrated by an incident which came within the experience 
of the authors. A scholar of international reputation, when 
engaged upon some abstruse investigation in an old Irish 
text, remarked that there was only one person whose opin- 
ion he really valued and, alas, this critic was dead. At ° 
certain stages of the work, he consciously strove to guide his 
researches by the imagined reaction of his former master. 
In his Life of Queen Victoria, Strachey, quoting from her 
diary, shows the Queen constantly framing her policies, not 
so much in accordance with her own judgments, as in the 
light of the imagined approval and disapproval of the dead 
Consort Prince. Such may be the influence of a single figure 
in the ideal gallery. On a larger scale, literature and his- 
tory mould the thought and conduct of men. As Jean Paul 
says, “ men elevated above all states, are now the educators 
of state — dead men, for instance, like Plato.” 

How is the anticipation of approval a present satisfaction? 
In so far as the approval or disapproval of the actual or ideal 
society is immediately felt there is little difficulty in this 


PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION “v18 


theory of conduct, but when the approval or disapproval is 
delayed the problem is more intricate. ‘The idea must not 
be gained that the anticipation of approval and disapproval 
means that man is always sacrificing present activity to some 
future advantage or freedom from inconvenience; this would 
make life one long and bitter renunciation. The future ap- 
proval and disapproval only exert an influence on my present 
state because an anticipation of such consequences, or the 
realization of the outcome in imagination, is an essential 
part of the present mental attitude. The individual does 
not give up some present good for a future good; the future 
good is only effective in so far as, through thinking and imag- 
ination, it assumes the réle of a present good. One may, in 
spite of distraction, continue in an enterprise because it will 
lead to a reputation in ten years; but only as its imaginative 
realization is sweet, and only as it becomes an effective part 
of the self at the time, will it effectively guide conduct. The 
contemplation of future approval is more pleasing in the 
present state of the self than is satisfaction of the passing 
moment. 

What are the limitations of these methods of control? An 
examination of the limitations which mark the control 
of conduct at each of these levels will be instructive. At 
the first stage, conduct can be modified only as a result of 
actually incurring natural penalties or receiving natural 
rewards. If, due to a lack of economy in nature, reward or 
punishment does not accompany or follow behavior, modifi- 
cation fails to take place. ‘This calls attention to a further 
injustice of nature; she is neither systematic and diligent as 
a school mistress, nor is there any attempt to make the 
punishment fit the crime. Nature punishes years of undue 
physical indulgence, such as overeating, but. slightly, 
whereas from a child allowed through a momentary inad- 
vertence to play with a sharp razor, the death penalty is 


132 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


exacted. This failure to make the punishment fit the crime 
is the great weakness inherent in Herbert Spencer’s theory 
of natural punishment. Such punishment may have the 
advantage of bemg impersonal, but it lacks the touch of 
personality, namely, intelligence. 

At the second stage of control the same weaknesses are 
manifest; the dividual is still only affected by the immedi- 
ate experience of approval or disapproval. Anticipation of 
consequences does not occur. Moreover, as in the case of 
nature, society, lacking both diligence and insight, fails to 
proportion the social sanctions and social prohibitions in 
strict accordance with the worth of-a service or the gravity 
of an offense. 

At the third stage, the actual adjustment in the natural 
and social world with its accompanying danger is replaced 
by an ideational or symbolic adjustment which anticipates 
the more remote results of conduct. This marks a distinct 
advance, and introduces great economies into behavior. 
But conduct which is controlled wholly by such motives can 
never induce those courageous acts which, though essen- 
tially unselfish mn their nature, require the defiance of group 
judgment. Conduct of this order can never rise to any 
great heights; its motivation is fundamentally egoistic, and 
absolutely dependent upon the moral standards which hap- 
pen to be in vogue at the time in the group. The vast differ- 
ences that exist in the nature of social sanctions, from na- 
tion to nation and from group to group, prevent any stable 
and universal mode of conduct from being conditioned by 
such arbitrary forces. Under such control man’s actions 
take on the color of his surroundings, and when he moves 
“east of Suez, where there ain’t no ten commandments,” 
he becomes a veritable moral chameleon. Furthermore, 
there is always the added difficulty that many deeds are 
hidden; in spite of the proverb to the contrary, crime will 


PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 133 


not always out. Consequently, if the individual is merely 
reacting to the anticipation of the approval and disapproval 
of his circle, no restraining force of wider authority enters, 
and the motivation for those good deeds, which march far 
in advance of the group or age, is totally lacking. 

How has the belief in supernatural sanctions motivated 
behavior? ‘This invites the consideration of one of the 
most interesting problems in the control of conduct. Where 
the individual is, for one reason or another, insensitive to the 
praise and blame of society, either because his deeds are 
hidden or because his position is so superior that social 
censure fails to touch him, the door is opened to unbridled 
license. “This difficulty has faced all those who have relied 
on a strictly profit-or-loss theory of action. What possible 
force, what punishment, can restrain a man who escapes the 
influence of these ordinary forces for social control? 

The method of negotiating this ¢mpasse is ingenious. 
The punishments are no longer regarded as necessarily im- 
mediate and man-inflicted, but as delayed and sent by the 
all-powerful and all-knowing gods. The tyrant may wade 
through blood to achieve his ambition and shut the gates of 
‘ mercy on mankind; the villain may plot in secret and the 
secret may never be revealed; through their power and guile 
scoundrels may escape the punishment of men, but the gods, 
from whom no secrets are hid, will in due season mete out 
the punishment. True, the punishment is delayed in many 
cases until after death, but to compensate for this delay the 
punishments are made correspondingly severe. In similar 
manner noble actions which receive not the approval of men 
are recorded in the books of the gods, and, in the fullness 
of time, receive their reward. 

_How may the school control the nature of the ideal gal- 
lery? The nature of the ideal gallery, which is the peculiar 
_ characteristic of the fourth stage and the quality of the 


134 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


ideals which flow therefrom, is largely determined by educa- 
tion. Within certain limits, youth will people this gallery 
with those idealized figures, real or imaginary, living or 
dead, which command the respect and glory of their group 
and time. If im schools the great financial magnates are set 
up for emulation, personal success in pecuniary accumula- 
tion as the ideal, this conception of worthy conduct, except 
iv a small number of the spiritually minded, will translate 
itself into the action and motives of tue pupils. 

For this reason the school must do all in its power to 
elevate its own sense of values; it must not merely reflect 
the practice of a falsely guided community. Whether many 
who are held up for popular admiration by our newspapers 
and our magazines should be permitted to crowd the ideal 
galleries of youth is a most disconcerting question. Schools 
in which pupils are encouraged to glorify great teachers, 
such as Horace Mann of Massachusetts, Henry Barnard of 
Connecticut, Thomas Arnold of Rugby, and Mark Hopkins 
of Williams, are difficult to imagine in industrial America; 
and yet we feign surprise when the more gifted young men 
and women never dream of entering the teaching profession. 
In this respect the school is reaping to-day what it has sown. 
Commercial enterprise draws more than its quota of talented 
men because success in business colors, not only the life 
outside the school, but even the ideal of the school itself. 
How hateful is the idea of a pamphlet entitled “ The 
Money Value of a College Education”! If our schools and 
universities bow down to false gods, then the children of the 
nation will bend the knee before the same idols. 

More hero-worship is not the need of our society; among 
the people of our nation this type of compensatory self- 
adulation is all toocommon. Our need is for the worship of 
different heroes, heroes who are rich in the things of the 
spirit. The heroes of politics, the heroes of finance, must 


PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 135 


give way to the less spectacular heroes of the creative life, 
whose deeds, in our present society, receive neither the 
plaudits of the multitude nor the more tangible awards of an 
aristocratic order. Fortunately, these superior men can be 
indifferent to the opinions of their contemporaries, because 
they have the highest reward life can afford — a love for 
their own work. 

How do abstract principles derive force to modify be- 
havior? This statement that conduct is guided by the 
imaginary approval and disapproval of an ideal spectator or 
a moral connoisseur is, of course, little more than an expres- 
sion of the fact in picturesque language. The dictates of 
such a gallery, consciously and unconsciously, become re- 
solved into ideals of coriduct which lose all contact with the 
particular individuals or the particular writings with which 
they were at one time associated. In the process of charac- 
ter formation such ideals as those of good sportsmanship, 
the Golden Rule, and the principle of self-sacrifice, all de- 
rive their original warmth from direct connection with some 
actual or imaginary hero. With the passage of time, how- 
ever, these ideals or precepts, being given expression through 
hosts of particular acts, eventually become guiding princi- 
ples which have lost their original personal connections. 

From the standpoint of moral education this process of 
motivation, generalization, and application is most signiti- 
cant. The rules and principles of high ethical teaching will 
not sway action unless they are imparted in the beginning, 
around the acts of individuals who catch the imagination 
and move the feelings. The mere statement, “ he that shall 
lose his life shall save it,’’ unless it is linked with the action 
of some concrete person who for the learner assumes the réle 
of hero, leaves the hearer as cold as do most of the sayings 
of Marcus Aurelius. Abstract principles do not make men 
valiant for truth. Herein lies one of the great problems of 


136 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


all moral education. Carlyle is unquestionably right in 
claiming that our highest ideals can in the first instance be 
kindled only through a refined form of hero-worship. The 
heart must be touched as with a live coal from the altar. 
The philosopher may reduce the golden deeds of the saviors 
of mankind to a few great principles of action, but these 
principles will remain frozen abstractions and will fail 
to fire saints and martyrs unless they have first been 
exemplified in the deeds of those that have gone before. 
The mythology of a race which lacks historical heroes may 
serve the useful function of quickening and giving life only 
to a body of abstract principles. 

Is the higher self a product of habit formation? To see 
whether the process of modification that we have described 
is sufficient to explain an extreme act of self-sacrifice, we are 
now im a position to return to our test case of the man who 
rescued his enemy from drowning. ‘This illustration will 
also be examined from the standpoint of the light it throws 
on the energy of will required for such an act. Careful 
scrutiny of these processes of modification has shown that 
the same psychological principle operates throughout; this 
principle exhibits itself m changes in habits of action, 
thought, and feeling through the effect of actual and antici- 
pated rewards and punishments, approval and disapproval. 
These forces, as time advances, become more and more re- 
fined, until, in the last stage, the sanctions and prohibitions 
become those of an ideal gallery, a higher tribunal, or of an 
ideal self which has been built up through contact with the 
great of all time. This desire to realize the highest self, 
which is essentially the same in mechanism as the desire to 
realize any of the lower selves, accounts for the case in 
question. 

The man risked his own life to save that of his enemy be- 
cause of certain habits and sentiments which had become 


PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 137 


grouped around the ideal self. If these associations had not 
been embedded in the nervous system, nothing would have 
availed to prompt the action. Neglecting style, we may 
say that he did what he did because he was what he was; he 
was what he was because a long-continued and laborious 
discipline had wrought profound changes in his original 
nature. Consequently, he no longer pursued primitive 
lines of behavior, but rather exhibited modes of conduct 
which received their inspiration from a long procession of 
heroes and martyrs. Each larger act of self-sacrifice had 
left its impression, and in the moment of supreme trial his 
habits and dispositions decided the issue. This explanation 
of an heroic deed seems to be so adequate that resort to any 
magical or supernatural force, or any special moral faculty, 
is unnecessary. ‘Those dispositions which were the product 
of a disciplined life exerted their influence, and in the mo- 
ment of crisis the individual ran true to form — the form 
to which he had been trained and educated. 

How is “ will power ’’ a product of habit formation? As 
no postulation of the existence of a special moral faculty has 
been made at any stage of this modification process, there is 
no necessity for assuming some reservoir of energy called 
will power upon which, in times of stress, the individual can 
call for assistance. ‘The more refined impulses do not tri- 
umph over the more primitive because they are reinforced 
by some influx of will-energy drawn from a reserve, con- 
cerning which we know nothing. The refined impulses 
triumph because through education they have become the 
stronger; to follow the nobler course, has become the path of 
least resistance; paradoxical as it may seem, the harder has 
become the easier deed. Just as the expert golfer habitually 
drives a long and straight ball, so the expert in the art of 
living, the true humanitarian, through a more subtle process 
of habit and reflection, follows the straight and narrow path. 


138 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


He draws on no reservoir of will energy for the simple 
reason that no such reservoir exists; the habits of self-sacri- 
fice, through the instincts from which they develop, carry 
their own drive. | 

To what extent is conduct rational? Such a statement of 
the various levels of behavior is apt to give the impression 
that all conduct follows a careful rational weighing of profit 
and loss, satisfaction and dissatisfaction. No view could 
be more erroneous. As a later part of this discussion will 
emphasize, man conducts but a small fraction of his life on a 
rational profit-and-loss theory. He is more apt to consult 
his feelings than he 1s to obey the dictates of reason. It is 
therefore necessary, when interpreting such a classification 
as has been presented, to bear in mind that the dispositions 
which are created by past experiences are to a large degree 
emotional dispositions, and not directed mainly by the more 
rational habits which we have termed reflection. Most peo- 
ple are saints or sinners, not because they count the cost 
but because they have acquired, through inheritance and 
education, an emotional predisposition to one or other of the 
two behavior-sets. We cannot too often remind ourselves 
that, in spite of our best efforts, the checks and encourage- 
ments which reason can afford are but transitory and super- 
ficial. They often do little more than play upon the sur- 
face of an organism which is essentially primitive in its 
emotional stirrings. Even the few who attempt to steer by 
intellect allow their emotions to make generous alterations 
in the reckoning. Any system of morality, any system of 
justice, any system of education that overlooks this obvious 
fact is guilty of the intellectualistic fallacy. By so doing it 
neglects the sentiments and emotions that he back of action, 
and treats man as a rational being who weighs disinterest- 
edly his conduct from the standpoint of ultimate satisfac- 
tion. 


PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION _ 139 


- This limited dependence on the process of reflection does 
not mean that educators should throw up their hands in a 
spirit of helplessness. Rather it implies that they should 
study the process of motivation from its emotional, as well 
as its intellectual side. This they must do, if they would 
attach to the higher form of social conduct those powerful 
sentiments, emotions, and compulsions which under present 
conditions become so easily linked with anti-social or nar- 
rowly social reactions. Because of their intellectual tradi- 
tions educators as a group tend to disparage the emotional 
side of man’s nature, and to value only rational controls. 
Such a rationalistic bias leads to profound and lamentable 
error. Logic can never raise the moral temperature of the 
world. For one individual whois stirred to right action by a 
Marcus Aurelius, millions follow the Christ. 

What is the function of conscience? ‘The reader will 
probably feel that no account of the development of per- 
sonality is adequate unless the part which conscience plays 
in the determination of conduct is given explicit attention. 
In the terms in which we are speaking, what is conscience? 
Can we assume that conscience is some guiding entity 
which presides over our thoughts, feelings, and acts? This 
question may be more readily answered if the occasions 
when “conscience”’ is most imperious are examined. 
Every instance of this kind is marked by a conflict between 
a lower and a higher impulse. Conscience is usually re- 
garded as “the active principle ” which drives a man to 
choose what he believes to be the right way. On the 
physiological side it is a name given to a group of facili- 
tating and restraining mechanisms, while its psycholog- 
ical counterpart actively predisposes the individual to right 
action. 

Conscience, picturesquely regarded as an internal monitor 
which controls behavior, has psychologically been a pow- 


140 |, PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


erful agent in reconciling man to the stern environmental 
and social conditions under which he has been compelled to 
lead his life. To more robust minds, especially, does ex- 
ternally imposed authority tend to be irksome. It is just 
at this point that “conscience” eases the rub, and removes 
some of the friction. As long as the individual bows to an 
external authority the yoke chafes, but when this external 
authority is reinforced and to a large extent replaced by 
inner sanction and direction, the individual, feeling that he 
is no longer a mere subject but rather a directive agent, ac- 
cepts, without murmur, the restraining influences. The 
check of a conscience which has been built up from habits 
imposed by the approval and disapproval of our fellows, is 
often willingly accepted when the direct restrictions of so- 
ciety seem arbitrary and unjust. In this sense the internal 
monitor serves a most valuable function in reconciling the 
individual to the rules imposed by the community. Only as 
these mechanisms subsumed under conscience are acquired 
can moral character be developed. » 

Why is personality so complex? These processes whereby 
socialized behavior is achieved are exceedingly complex. 
The individual does not mould his conduct in accordance 
with the group as a whole; rather he builds up a number of 
personalities, each of which is adapted to the different réles 
he plays. This is the point which James makes when he 
claims that a man has as many social selves as there are in- 
dividuals and groups with which he sustains relations. Of 
course, there is a great deal of overlapping of the various 
selves, but the differences of these groups, and therefore the 
differences in the corresponding selves, are so great that at 
times a discordant splitting of the total personality results. 
This rivalry and conflict of the different selves is playfully 
represented by this author when he writes: 1 

1 James, William: Psychology, vol. 1, p. 309. 


PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 141 


T am often confronted by the necessity of standing by one of my 
empirical selves and relinquishing the rest. Not that I would not, 
if I could, be both handsome and fat and well-dressed, and a great 
athlete, and make a million a year, be a wit, a bon vivant, and a 
lady-killer, as well as a philosopher; a philanthropist, a statesman, 
a warrior, an African explorer, as well as a “tone-poet”’ and saint. 
But the thing is simply impossible. The millionaire’s work would 
run counter to the saint’s; the bon vivant and the philanthropist | 
would trip each other up; the philosopher and the lady-killer 
could not well keep house in the same tenement of clay. 


What is meant by a personality? From the standpoint of 
these various selves the development of orderly personality 
only proceeds in so far as each is assigned its proper sphere. 
The main task is that of bringing harmony into a household 
which contains such diverse and often incompatible mem- 
bers. The opposing attitudes, habits and impulses must 
gradually be brought into accord and manifest an internal 
consistency. Variety of reaction is only good in so far as a 
unity can still embrace the variety. This process of in- 
tegration of the minor personalities into a single harmonious 
self constitutes the essence of character formation and the 
emergence of personality. Of all the various selves the 
potential or ideal social self is the most interesting and, 
from the standpoint of moral education, the most important. 
This is the self with which the individual identifies himself 
in his highest and most enlightened moments. In order 
that this harmonization of the various selves may be 
achieved, each act performed in the interests of one of the 
lesser selves must pass the “censorship ” of the higher so- 
cial self. In a perfectly integrated and completely har- 
monized personality the habits of thought, action, and feel- 
ing called forth by a particular grouping of situations would 
be in perfect accord with the larger habits of thought, feel- 
ing, and action with which the individual identifies himself 
when he is, as we say, most himself. ‘These reactions within 


142 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


different spheres must produce no lasting conflicts and set 
up no disturbing emotional and intellectual tensions. 

What is abnormal behavior? Because of its extreme com- 
plexity such a long-continued and thorough-going modifica- 
tion of original nature as results from the varied and 
chequered experiences of life is often attended by grave dis- 
turbances. A process of integration which is so subtle can 
hardly be expected to run smoothly and, in its final state, to 
reveal no exaggerations. While that abnormal behavior 
which accompanies lesions and faulty anatomical structure 
presents the most striking cases of dissociation, this type of 
disturbance can hardly be considered in an educational 
treatise. Omitting all reference to such cases, then, we shall 
confine ourselves to certain eccentric forms of behavior pro- 
duced not by any gross deterioration of the brain, but 
rather by a peculiar and unfortunate attitude which the in- 
dividual has assumed towards certain aspects of his experi- 
ence. 

To present the most elementary facts from this field, cer- 
tain terms, which have come into literature through the 
study of insanity, must be introduced. To the reader such 
an excursion out of the beaten track may seem not only un- 
necessary but hazardous. Its justification, however, will be 
found in the additional insight that a study of abnormal 
behavior throws on everyday conduct. ‘That abnormality 
is a matter of degree, cannot be too often stressed. Ab- 
normal conduct is conduct which has deviated from the 
norm to such an extent that it attracts attention. The 
most economical manner in which to study the slight devia- 
tions found in the conduct of each of us is to study them as 
they appear in greatly magnified form in other persons. 
This method of approach will show that “ all the world is a 
little queer ”’; and the logical reader will be driven to forego 
the comforting exclusion of ‘‘ thee and me.” 


PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 143 | 


What is Freud’s central hypothesis? An adequate in- 
troduction to this field would involve a description of the 
main tenets of the psycho-analytic school. Here it must 
suffice to note that Freud has rendered a unique service in 
calling attention to certain tendencies of human behavior 
which exist at a low level and rarely, if ever, enter conscious- 
ness. These submerged tendencies, these ego-centric im- 
pulses, color both normal and abnormal behavior. He 
supposes that the powerful primitive urges of “ the uncon- 
scious”! are continually in conflict with the desires of men in 
civilized society. As a result of the wholesale and artificial 
restraints of modern life, vast tracts of this primitive self are 
repressed and never reach the level of consciousness except 
in distorted form. ‘The degree of distortion must be suffi- 
cient to pass the “ censorship,” which Freud conceives as a 
force guarding the confines of consciousness. That such 
phenomena as Freud describes manifest themselves in the 
life of each individual, that sex restraint is a fruitful cause 
of conduct distortion, no one doubts, but that Freud has 
been unfortunate in his terminology and mystical in his 
concepts is equally obvious. Unfortunately, an adequate 
consideration of the position of Freud is impossible here. 

What is the complex? Abandoning, because of the lim- 
itation of space, any attempt to present in exhaustive form 
the phenomena of abnormal behavior, we may introduce 
our partial account by considering the concept of the com- 
plex. According to Hart’s definition, a complex “‘is a sys- 
tem of connected ideas ? with a strong emotional tone, and a 
tendency to produce actions of a certain definite character.” 

1 The precise meaning of this term has never been made clear. 

2 The term “‘idea’’ and its corresponding adjective “ideational’’ is 
used as a convenience to signify the acquired dispositions which condi- 
tion reflection. The reader is warned against the danger of regarding 


“ideas’”’ as isolated and unchanging entities, or as “atoms” from the 
combination of which thinking arises. 


144 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


As used in this way, it includes any group of associated 
ideas and actions, provided the consolidation is produced by 
a strong emotional tone. This emotional accompaniment 
functions whenever the complex is aroused. On account of 
its powerful affective quality, and the large number of 
elements that it may contain, a complex is extremely liable 
to be stimulated. When this happens, the accompanying 
behavior is characteristic. The point which differentiates a 
complex from any other group of habits, or group of con- 
nected ideas, is that its cementing principle is the strong 
feeling tone. It causes the individual to be peculiarly at- 
tentive to certain types of stimulation, to be extremely sen- 
sitive when so stimulated, and as a result of the strong 
emotional excitement to behave in a way which is more or 
less irrational. A man who has an overmastering hobby 
finds this complex so strong that very remote objects and 
ideas will arouse it. Moreover, his behavior, when once the 
complex is stimulated, will reveal a characteristic lack of 
balance. For example, a man with a golf complex will be 
unable to see a green sward without dreaming of golf, he will 
justify to himself the spending of long afternoons on the 
course, and he will bore his friends for hours after the game 
with a recital of his successes and failures on the various 
holes. 

A more extreme manifestation of such a grouping or inte- 
gration of behavior responses is shown in the lover’s complex. 
To the individual suffering from this well-nigh universal 
malady, almost every element and act of his life will call to 
mind the adored one. Her most trivial remark will be 
weighed as though of profound importance; ecstasy and de- 
jection will alternate in rapid succession; and the behavior 


1 From the choice of illustrations in this portion of the text, the astute 
reader will already have noticed that the writers are suffering from a golf 
complex of a most violent nature! 


PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 145 


within the complex may be so irrational that sonnets are 
written to the eyebrows of the beloved! The whole world 
may scoff, the uninspired may rack his brains to discover 
the imponderable and sterling virtues crystallized in the 
chosen individual, but to no avail! 

We may smile at the folly of others, but, if we are sincere 
with ourselves, we shall be compelled to recognize that our 
own behavior is only explicable in terms of the many com- 
plexes resident within us. Complexes involving our health, 
our home, our children, our friends, our business, our coun- 
try, our sports, our religion, and a host of our other interests, 
are responsible for many of the peculiarities of our actions. 
We may justify our eccentric conduct in each one of these 
realms by resorting to the most ingenious and laborious 
process of rationalization, but the fact still remains that 
there is an irreducible minimum which defies reasonable ex- 
planation. ‘This residue can only be accounted for by the 
presence of the peculiar emotional dispositions that happen 
to have been built up around these interests. 

How universal are these complexes? An ideally in- 
tegrated personality would not manifest such strange be- 
havior; against our will the evidence forces us to the view 
that, in but few matters, are we wholly or largely swayed by 
the dictates of reason — quaniula sapientia mundus regitur. 
Only in the dreams of mental philosophers is the human 
mind a smoothly running, cold, logical engine. The feel- 
ings and actions of even the most disciplined disprove this 
conception at every turn. As Trotter says, “‘ When there- 
fore, we find ourselves entertaining an opinion about the 
basis of which there is a quality of feeling which telis us that 
to inquire into it would be absurd, obviously unnecessary, 
unprofitable, undesirable, bad form, or wicked, we may 
know that the opinion is a non-rational one.” 

Only when the presence of these disturbing complexes is 


146 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


taken into consideration are the prediction, control, and 
interpretation of behavior possible. The old intellectualistic 
explanation of conduct has only had its long reign because 
the scientific study of behavior has been confined to a few 
thinkers who have themselves been schooled, at great pains, 
in rational methods. ‘Those who have viewed life, not from 
the cloister but from the market place, have never been 
duped by this simple fallacy. Only as the educational proc- 
ess takes full account of these irrational tendencies of men, 
and studiously strives to prevent anti-social and other 
serious complexes from dominating thought and action, can 
it hope to build up an harmonious personality. 

How does conflict arise? How is it resolved? These 
complexes vary in their scope from those covering insignifi- 
cant fragments of behavior to the large complexes which 
embrace very wide aspects of life. ‘The various social selves, 
described by James, are representative of the wider com- 
plexes. After a considerable number of such complexes has 
been formed, a single situation serves to arouse several of 
the comprehensive groupings of mechanisms. Under these 
conditions the stage is set for what 1s called a “ conflict.” 
The mother who is fired by a rabid puritanical complex 
which impels her to a scathing denunciation of drinking and 
cards, may discover that her own son, at college, has been 
attending late poker parties. The puritanical complex 
leading to denunciation here conflicts with the child or par- 
ent complex which causes the mother always to shield and 
excuse her offspring. How is she to reconcile this conflict 
without the displacement of one of the complexes? ‘There 
are four possibilities: 

(1) She may keep her puritanism and her parent reactions 
in logic-tight and emotion-tight compartments, and 
by this method of segregation prevent conflict; 

(2) She may rationalize the situation by persuading her- 


PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 147 


self that her son, being led into wicked paths by evil 
companions, was innocent of guilt; 

(3) She may, repressing the knowledge that her son has 
fallen into what she regards as disgrace, refuse to 
recognize the unwelcome fact; 

(4) She may be willing to face the facts, stand by her 
notions of right and wrong, recognize that her son has 
greatly disappointed her, and in the light of both 
events proceed to direct her conduct. 

The fourth method of settling the conflict involves no 
compact with delusion; such facing of reality is the mark of 
a superior mind. Where segregation takes place there is an 
incompatibility in the behavior, a lack of harmony in the 
personality, which is accompanied by grave dangers. The 
integrity of the mind is lost; single-mindedness disappears. 
The dangers of rationalization have already received atten- 
tion; reason is prostituted in this service. Repression of 
deep-seated and wide complexes with their correspondingly 
powerful feelings, if it reaches a certain point, may bring 
about a breakdown of the self. When this occurs usually 
the explanation may be found in the utter incompatibility 
of two or more conflicting foci of behavior. This incom- 
patibility may eventually become so great that any har- 
monization is rendered impossible. In this event the at- 
tempt may be made to repress, to banish from the mind the 
offending complex. ‘This process is fraught with serious 
consequences. The repressed elements, if they ever come 
to dominate behavior, since they are divorced from the 
main stream of life, may give rise to the phenomena of 
multiple or double personality. When this acute stage is 
reached, all appearance of harmony in the self disappears. 
Each self is unaware of the thoughts, feelings, and actions of 
the other. Cases of this kind are, of course, so extreme as to 
be pathological, but mental hygiene is revealing to-day 


148 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


that many rervous disturbances may be traced to the re- 
pression, especially in early youth, of certain behavior 
trends. A wiser system of education would force these 
tendencies into the open, and attempt to harmonize them 
with the rest of the mental life. 

How does projection operate? In considering the réle 
played by rationalization, another interesting mental proc- 
ess must be considered. Passing reference has already 
been made to certain behavior-processes so radically op- 
posed to the main trend of the individual that he finds it 
extremely difficult to reconcile himself to their presence. 
While repression may ensue, another path of escape is possi- 
ble. Instead of refusing attention, as in repression, the in- 
dividual ascribes the evil thoughts and actions to some out- 
side agency. 

In its most exaggerated form, this is seen in the insane, 
who explain away all their derelictions by attributing them 
to external influence. In a neighboring asylum is an inmate 
who from time to time attacks his fellows. After each as- 
sault the explanation is the same: “ I am controlled by some 
wireless, which a Yale professor who has stolen my patent, 
is operating to keep me locked up here! ”’ Since this process 
involves the projecting outside the self of certain painful 
mental contents, it goes by the name of “ projection ”; 
it is an attempt to find an excuse for a departure from nor- 
mal behavior. ‘This phenomenon is exhibited in a wider 
form in the crude conception of the devil, which works mis- 
chief in human hearts and lives. Instead of boldly and 
openly confessing our sins and assuming the blame for them, 
by ascribing them to an external agency the feeling of re- 
sponsibility, if not removed, is much diminished. ‘To-day 
“environment and heredity’ are apparently taking the 
place of the former ubiquitous “ devil.” 

This same principle operates at the other extreme of con- 


PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 149 


duct. When some ecstatic state is experienced, when some 
sublime and heroic deed of sacrifice 1s performed, an exter- 
nal beneficent force is postulated. “It is not I that do it, 
but the spirit that worketh in me.”” While both these forms 
of rationalization are magical in their origin, the first is, of 
course, much more dangerous than the second. Any mental 
process which takes away from the individual the feeling of 
personal responsibility, and thereby causes him to condone 
his own acts of indiscretion, is dangerous both individually 
and socially. Education must not allow reality to be dis- 
torted by mirages of this kind. The individual must recog- 
nize his own responsibility, and take gracefully the blows 
which cannot be inflicted upon an imaginary and external 
* whipping boy.” 

What is the place of phantasy in mental life? Closely 
allied to the phenomenon of projection, with its imaginary 
accompaniments, is the mental process known as “ phan- 
tasy.” A complex finds its normal outcome in action. 
When, however, through obstacles in the environment or 
through the impotence of the individual, the activity of the 
complex is blocked, there yet remains one channel through 
which it may find partial expression. Let us suppose that 
an individual is very desirous of amassing a fortune, and 
that defects in his personality or the limitations of his sur- 
roundings prevent the consummation of this desire. Re 
alizing that his craving can never be satisfied in the world 
of reality, he may fly to the land of dreams where obstacles 
melt away, and his own pusillanimous and submissive will 
becomes inflexible and sovereign. In this realm of phantasy 
he may build up business organizations of which Rockefeller 
never dreamed, and amass fortunes for which Croesus never 
sighed. All of us, especially in adolescence, indulge in day- 
dreams of this kind. We rescue fair damsels from burning 
buildings amid the plaudits of the crowd; we perform 


150 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


Herculean labors with easy grace; amidst countless retainers 
we dwell in marble halls; we attain social and intellectual 
prominence within a day; we scatter plenty on a smiling 
land, and read our glory in a nation’s eyes. 

This playful mental activity, affording in the realm of 
fancy a compensation for the sternness of reality, cannot, in 
its entirety, be condemned. The discouraged prisoner 
rallies his spirit and gathers strength to burst his bonds and 
slay hiscaptors. Used in this way, phantasy has great possi- 
bilities as a motivating force. Such is the legitimate use of 
this mechanism; it may function illegitimately, however, by 
becoming the perpetual resort of a vacillating and timid 
mind. Instead of refreshing the warrior for new conflict, it 
may sap the energy which should be used in destroying his 
antagonist. If such day-dreaming is allowed unbridled 
license, the individual becomes, at length, divorced from 
reality, and incapable of undergoing those sterner dis- 
ciplines demanded by the problems and exigencies of life. 
Education, by encouraging the individual to undertake 
suitable tasks which, through continuous effort, yield a prod- 
uct in the world of reality, must prevent him from falling 
a prey to the dangerous habit of substituting “ castles in 
Spain ” for substantial achievement. ‘Too much thwarting, 
the natural outcome of impossible goals, is liable to induce 
this compensating tendency to live in the domain of phan- 
tasy. 

How does the inferiority-complex operate? Perhaps, in 
closing, it is well to call attention to another concept much 
used in the study of human behavior. This is the “ inferior- 
ity-complex.”’ Adler noted that, under certain conditions, 
when the body exhibited some marked defect, the attempt 
on the part of the bodily mechanism at physical compensa- 
tion was followed by an over-compensation. This is the in- 
feriority-complex of physical origin, but the same term may 


PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 151 


also be applied to the complex of psychical origin. Com- 
plexes of this type are apt, likewise, to manifest themselves 
in over-compensation. The shy and nervous individual 
may often mask his inner feeling under a brazen exterior, 
and the pessimist may often present an overjoyous counte- 
nance. Particularly are phantasy and day-dreaming the 
channels through which the individual suffering from an 
inferiority-complex attempts to establish a behavior equilib- 
rium. While certain students of human behavior have 
overworked this concept as an explanation of conduct, there 
is no question that it is of service in classifying some mani- 
festations of human conduct. Whenever there is extreme 
sensitiveness in certain, social situations, combined with 
great eagerness for social recognition and an aggressive type 
of reaction, the possibility of the behavior being explicable 
in terms of a persistent effort to overcome the sense of in- 
feriority should be considered. 

Under these conditions we find the possessor of such a 
complex not merely trying to overcome his deficiency by 
continued striving to attain the ends which are direct, but 
in many cases he chooses other ends which may serve as a 
compensation for failure to attain the direct objectives. 
Towards these other compensatory activities he directs his 
attention and the attention of his associates. The boy of 
weak body may turn from sport and make heroic efforts to 
excel in his studies. At the same time he is careful to make 
clear, to himself and to others, the superiority of intellectual 
attainment, and, in extreme cases, he may manifest a com- 
plete contempt for physical prowess. Pruett elaborates 
this point in the following words: ! 

The woman without brains uses every device to be beautiful 


and charming, the woman who cannot be beautiful goes to college 
and takes an interest in “‘higher”’ things, the menial compensates 








1 Psychoanalytic Rev., Jan., 1922, p. 29. 


152 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


by insolence to superiors. ‘The Southerner clings to his belief in 
his aristocratic descent and the tradition of noblesse oblige, seeking 
to forget the relative inferiority of his section in economic and 
intellectual development. The New-Englander makes a virtue of 
necessity and cherishes the faults as well as the excellences of the 
middle class. ‘The Westerner boasts the material greatness of his 
country because he has not yet taken time to acquire cultural 
greatness. Compensation for inferiority may be found in many 
ways, perhaps chiefly through attracting attention away from the 
very defect. 


How fruitful are these concepts in studying behavior? 
Before leaving the subject it is necessary to warn the reader 
that such concepts as we have described, the unconscious, 
the complex, the inferiority-complex, phantasy, compen- 
sation, projection, etc., etc., may easily be abused. As 
methods of explanation or, more accurately, of classifica- 
tion, it is easy to bandy these words around and, in the 
face of the complex problems of human behavior, to. feel a 
false security. In the hands of popular writers, and, at 
times, in the hands of those who claim to be psychologists, 
these terms have been employed as explanations to such a 
degree that the standards of proof in psychology seem to 
be even lower than those found in theology. These con- 
cepts have a proper place; they may aid clear thinking, 
but, unless used with great discrimination, they may “ lay 
the intellect to rest on a pillow of obscure ideas.” 

What is the educational responsibility? In the short 
space at our disposal we have been able to do little more 
than sketch the larger psychological and sociological impli- 
cations of that vast and intricate process of habit-formation 
and reflection out of which character emerges. In the brief- 
est possible manner, certain modes of behavior which are 
detrimental to the development of an ordered and unified 
personality have been discussed. The total process of char- 
acter formation is too interwoven with the whole fabric of 


PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 153 


life to make feasible a systematic formulation of definite 
regulations for its guidance. Education is only successful 
in so far as it furnishes a purified and simplified environ- 
ment which is calculated to favor the growth of sound habits 
of action, thought, and feeling. For this reason the school 
must reproduce in miniature a socialized community; its 
rules and regulations, its conventions and its ideals, must be 
planned not only for the attainment of intellectual growth, 
but still more for the attainment of moral stature. Within 
this ideal community each member, by subordinating his 
lower self, by realizing his better self, should unconsciously 
and consciously form those mental dispositions from which 
moral conduct flows. 

An individual does not become a personality all at once; 
he becomes so only gradually, and even then he cannot be 
regarded as existing for himself alone, but only as a member 
of an organism. To accomplish this end, the questions of 
freedom, constraint, competition, socialized and group ac- 
tivity, individual responsibility, formulation of aims, differ- 
ences in personality, must all be given the closest study. 
Only individuals who have once enjoyed such a community 
in the school can confidently be expected to work for the 
socialization of the greater society — a society in which it 
will be recognized that one of the important functions of 
every department of life is that of making more humane the 
individual coming within its sphere of influence. 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


1. To what factors would you trace man’s irrational desire for approval 
and recognition of others? 

2. From the standpoint of the individual, what are the advantages and 
disadvantages which accompany extreme sensitiveness to the ap- 
proval and disapproval of the immediate group? What are the cor- 
responding advantages and disadvantages to the group itself? 

3. How do problems of discipline arise out of the fact that pupils fre- 


10. 


11. 


12. 


13. 


14. 


' PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


quently prefer the approval of their classmates to the approval of the 
teacher? 


. What are the merits and demerits of the impersonal form of natural 


punishment, advocated by Spencer in his essay on Moral Education ? 


. When is day-dreaming, as a compensatory mechanism, detrimental to 


the growth of personality? How can the school minimize the danger? 


. Why is the complex such a dangerous factor in conduct? Analyze 


the complexes which the ordinary individual builds up about: him- 
self, his college, his country, his political party, his religious sect, his 
occupation, his family. 


. List the characteristics which your social self exhibits in each of the 


following réles: teacher, pupil, son or daughter, brother or sister, 
parent, lover, member of fraternity, patriot, worshipper, employer, 
employee. What conflicts between these various selves do you ex- 
perience? How are these conflicts resolved? 


. What types of personality are set up for approval by each of the 


following: the sport column of the newspaper, the moving picture, 
the pulpit, the stage, the market place, the dance hall, the college 
campus, the public school, the university. 


. How does the membership of the ideal gallery change at the various 


age levels? What systematic attempt does the school make to modify 
and refine the membership of this ideal gallery? 

Why are moral precepts in themselves such ineffective instruments 
for the motivation of conduct? How may these precepts be given 
vitality? 

Show, in terms of habit mechanisms, how “will power,’’ as popularly 
known, is built up. 

What is the effect on the growth of personality in children of the 
practically compiete dominance of women in the teaching profession? 
Illustrate, from your own experience as an adult, the modification of 
conduct at each of the four levels, according to the analysis of 
McDougall. 

What danger does the teacher run, in the development of personality, 
through constant association with immature minds? How can these 
dangers in some measure be avoided? 


. [llustrate from your own experience, the phenomena of the complex, 


projection, phantasy, inferiority complex, the force of the primitive 
urges of the unconscious. 


PROBLEM 10 


HOW IS EDUCATION CONDITIONED BY PROLONGED 
GUARDIANSHIP? 


Why is plasticity marked by initial helplessness? — What is the signifi- 
cance of infancy? — Why has prolonged infancy a survival value? — Why 
is the period of social infancy being extended? — What aspects of growth 
have been studied? — When does intellectual growth cease? — Why is it 
so difficult to measure the growth of social and moral traits? — What 
determines the value of an activity in infancy? — What qualities should 
characterize the school environment? — Does the school explore and rec- 
ognize the capacities of the individual? — How may society exploit the 
docility of the young? — How may the school lose touch with life? — 
How may the school unduly sacrifice the present to the future? 


Why is plasticity marked by initial helplessness? Nothing 
in the study of human behavior is more striking than the 
complete helplessness of the infant at birth. As compared 
with the lower animals its equipment with those adaptive 
mechanisms which are essential to the immediate demands 
of life is most inadequate. Were not the human infant care- 
fully tended it would die within a very few hours of its birth; 
and this, in spite of close proximity to food, shelter, and 
clothing, and other necessities of life. We have already 
contrasted the independence of the recently hatched chick, 
capable of seeking its food, with the helplessness of the new- 
born infant, incapable of even crawling to its mother’s breast. 
So striking is this utter helplessness that a hypothetical 
observer, unacquainted with the developmental history of 
the infant and the chick, would certainly predict a fuller life 
for the latter than the former. In the light of subsequent 
events, he who judged future possibilities from present ef- 
fectiveness would be completely deceived. 

Incapacity to meet present conditions can never of itself 
be advantageous to an organism. Unless the infantile help- 


156 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


lessness is the necessary concomitant of a structural forma- 
tion that has great potentialities for growth, it is wholly 
negative and disadvantageous. When we pass from the 
patent fact of the physical incapacity to its physiological 
basis, our attitude towards this helplessness is changed. A 
certain incompleteness at birth is the necessary condition of 
growth. Only as the final forms of response are absent can 
the organism form those habits through which future ad- 
justment is secured. The lower one goes in the animal king- 
dom, the more one finds this fact to be true. Independence 
of the care of the parent is characteristic of the lower forms 
of animal life; the chick is better equipped to meet the con- 
ditions of its life than the kitten, and the kitten than the 
young elephant or the monkey. The chick possesses at 
birth, in a relatively fixed form, most of the responses which 
are necessary for life. These responses, being sufficiently 
adapted to the extremely simple environment to which the 
chick reacts, may be employed in approximately their orig- 
inal form. ‘These hereditary preferential connections are so 
clearly and finally canalized in the physiological structure 
that, in the event of a considerable environmental change, 
the organism perishes. 

Initial adaptation of this final order is purchased at the 
price of modifiability. The young of the primates inherit 
many more modes of response than do the offspring of any 
other animal species. Furthermore, these modes of re- 
sponse are less fixed and, under environmental stimulus, are 
more easily modified; or, to state the case more accurately, 
the inherited behavior-patterns are so numerous and con- 
flicting that they facilitate and inhibit each other. In this 
manner the behavior of the organism suffers gradual though 
radical modification. To this possibility of compounding 
new forms of behavior, from the facilitation and interference 
of simpler modes of response, the term plasticity is given; and 


GUARDIANSHIP AND EDUCATION 157 


to the period during which this modification takes place in a 
marked degree, the term infancy has been technically applied. 

What is plasticity? On its physiological side, the helpless- 
ness of the human offspring and the prolonged period of 
infancy must be traced to an absence at birth of many of 
the mechanisms which only develop with age and environ- 
mental stimulus. It is probably a mistake of emphasis to 
assume that the simple inherited modes of response which 
develop as the organism matures, and out of which com- 
plex behavior is built, are less fixed in man than in the lower 
animals. The point to stress is not that the simple reactions 
are indefinite and vague, but rather that they are capable of 
being integrated or compounded together to form new types 
of behavior. As a complex machine derives its versatility, 
not from a lack of rigidity in its various parts, but from the 
manner in which these various rigid parts work together to 
produce a complex series of movements; so, in man, plasti- 
city and adaptability are due not to the absence of definite 
and fixed simple modes of reaction, but rather to the manner 
in which simple responses are coérdinated and integrated. 
This coérdination results in modes of behavior which have 
no appearance of fixity, but exhibit a degree of versatility 
found only in the human mechanism. 

What is the significance of infancy? Using the term in- 
fancy to cover that period during which the offspring is 
markedly dependent upon the care of others, we may now 
observe that prolonged infancy seems to accompany capa- 
city for future development. The lower animals which are 
virtually independent of the parent at the time of birth are 
incapable of modifying their behavior to any considerable 
degree, while man, who has a prolonged period of infancy, 
shows a great capacity for growth. This connection be- 
tween the period of infancy and capacity for change is not a 
mere coincidence, but rather a causal relationship. 


158 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


To view this fact in its most significant form, the student 
must go back of the time of birth and follow the gradual 
development of the organism in the pre-natal period. From 
the physiological standpoint there is continuity between 
pre-natal and post-natal existence. The separation of the 
offspring from the parental body, however dramatic in its 
nature and its social significance, marks no sudden break in 
the process of development. We may suppose, therefore, 
that in the lower animals the major part of that final in- 
tegration, which sets definite bounds to the process of learn- 
ing, takes place before birth, while, in the case of man, 
birth occurs before this process of final integration is con- 
summated. 

Owing to the lack of differentiation at birth, the process of 
integration, which has been discussed under habit formation, 
can occupy a long period of time, and can proceed under the 
influences of those forces which condition the social life of 
the child. Expressed in picturesque language, it may be 
said that the lower animals are adapted by heredity, 
whereas man is given by heredity merely the raw materials 
of adaptation. In the case of the lower animals, nature 
completes her task before the birth of the organism, while, 
in the case of man, she seems to lack the necessary time 
during the pre-natal period to fashion a finished product. 
The child is consequently born with an adaptable mechan- 
ism which can be made effective only by the educating in- 
fluence of the environment. What nature does for man in 
shaping the more primitive mechanisms governing the ac- 
tion of the heart, kidney, stomach, liver, and other vital 
organs, she does for the animal throughout almost the whole 
of its reaction system. 

Why has prolonged infancy a survival value? Were all 
the reactions of the child as isolated from the higher mental 
control, and therefore as unmodifiable, as are the simple 


GUARDIANSHIP AND EDUCATION 159 


physiological processes, education would be powerless to 
produce change. Any adaptation to a complex and chang- 
ing environment would be impossible. Man, of course, is 
not endowed with this plasticity, which is the mark of a 
prolonged period of infancy, in order that he may adapt 
himself to the complexities of his material and social en- 
vironment; instead these complexities have only arisen be- 
cause of the learning capacity which is characteristic of the 
human infant. But from the standpoint of the individual, 
infancy, with all it implies, may be legitimately regarded as 
the period during which the process of habit formation is 
peculiarly active, and therefore as the period during which 
are formed the major nymber of adjustments to the world. 

So essential is this plasticity to the formation of habits 
that we may assume the steady operation of certain selec- 
tive influences throughout the course of evolution. These 
influences have favored those organisms that, through lack 
of differentiation at birth, are capable of adjusting them- 
selves to the changing aspects of the environment. In the 
beginning of the struggle variations in gross size, in strength 
of muscle, in physical endurance, and in resistance to cold, 

‘hunger, and thirst, may well have been the determining in- 
fluences in survival; but, as competition became more acute 
and as the environment was refined, the selective forces 
became increasingly operative upon variations in the 
plasticity of the nervous system. Consequently, with the 
passage of successive generations of men, a gradual increase 
in the degree of helplessness and in the duration of the 
period of dependence might be expected. 

Why is the period of social infancy being extended? 
Under the conditions of our own complex civilization, even 
an approximate estimate of the period of time during which 
parental care is essential to the survival of the offspring can- 
not be conjectured. ‘The specialization of occupation in our 


160 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


present society makes all of us dependent throughout our 
lives upon the labor of others; and the present “ paternalis- 
tic’ trend of government, with the social assumption of 
responsibility for the individual, makes dependence cotermi- 
nous with life. However, that the period of dependence is 
over when the individual is capable of earning his own living 
may reasonably be assumed. According to the common 
judgment of society, as expressed in legislation and educa- 
tional procedure, the child should not carry the responsi- 
bilities of earning a livelihood before sixteen, and the full 
membership in society is not granted until eighteen or 
twenty-one years. Furthermore, among the more favored 
classes, the period of dependence is extended even beyond 
the age at which legal status is conferred. In modern life, 
entrance to the higher professions, such as medicine, law, 
and university teaching, is hardly possible, if the individual 
is to be adequately equipped, before the age of twenty-five 
to twenty-eight. The increase in theoretical training de- 
manded by many of the professions involves a financial de- 
pendence upon the parents or society for approximately one 
third of the life span. | 

The advance of civilization, too, encourages the extension 
of the period of dependence upon the parents or upon society 
for as long a time as benefit can be derived from deferred 
entrance to the profession or occupation. Where the finan- 
cial resources of the family render the practice unnecessary, 
many parents and children make the mistake of assuming 
that, on the completion of the college course, the indi- 
vidual should be independent and, therefore, responsible for 
self-maintenance during the years of postgraduate study. 
This constitutes an unwarranted sacrifice of educational 
values to immediate productive efficiency. The same argu- 
ment applies even more forcibly to those foolish parents 
who, in spite of financial competence, distract their children 


GUARDIANSHIP AND EDUCATION 161 


during the secondary school or college period by requiring 
them to engage in remunerative employment during hours 
which .might well be devoted to the prosecution of their 
studies or recreations. An understanding of the signifi- 
cance of infancy would correct this short-sighted practice. 
In view of the extensive and prolonged training necessary 
for those who later will be called upon to meet the more im- 
portant crises of our social life, society must recognize that 
these chosen individuals must be relieved from the necessity 
of entering a gainful occupation before the early thirties. 
What aspects of growth have been studied? Having 
shown the general significance of infancy and prolonged 
guardianship, we now turn to a phase of our problem which 
is of great interest to the educator. . This problem is con- 
cerned with the developmental history from birth to ma- 
turity. By students of anthropometry, medicine, and edu- 
cation, the physical growth of the child has been carefully 
studied. By using groups of children of both sexes at the 
various age levels, growth in stature, weight, and other 
physical traits has been measured. At the present time 
several ambitious investigations are in progress in which 
the same children are measured periodically in the various 
physical traits. The onset and manifestations of adoles- 
cence have also received considerable attention. 
Paralleling this interest in physical and anatomical traits 
the question of growth of intelligence has in more recent 
years occupied the attention of psychologists. ‘The move- 
ment for the measurement of mental capacity is greatly 
handicapped not only by the lack of objective units, but also 
by the causal relationship that exists between growth in in- 
tellectual capacity and environmental stimulation. Thus, 
while an inch is always perfectly objective, an increase of a 
certain number of units in performance in an intelligence 
test has always to be interpreted in the light of the elements 


162 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


comprising the particular test. In the Binet examination, 
since the tests are standardized on an age-level basis, the 
extent of the growth from year to year in absolute units can 
never be known. Again, all the tests which have so far been 
devised to measure mental growth are exceedingly depend- 
ent upon educational factors. Consequently, in the at- 
tempt to measure mental growth, any results obtained from 
such tests have always to be interpreted with reference to 
an environmental factor which changes from individual to 
individual. 

When does intellectual growth cease? In spite of these 
difficulties it is probably safe to assume that somewhere be- 
tween fourteen and a half and sixteen vears the majority of 
individuals reach the limits set by nature to mental growth. 
From this time on they cease to show increased capacity to 
meet those novel situations which, for their solution, make 
demands on native ability rather than on mere experience. 
To suppose that the majority of individuals do not grow in 
intellectual effectiveness after sixteen is, of course, absurd; 
the experience of mankind is to the contrary. But there is 
considerable evidence to show that this effectiveness is to be 
ascribed to wider experience and more information, rather 
than to an increase in general mental capacity. 

In view of the inadequacy of our instruments, and the un- 
measured influence of the environmental factor, dogmatism 
is out of place, but it is interesting to note that cumulative 
evidence from the employment of a wide selection of the 
present so-called intelligence tests reveals the fact that the 
decline of mental growth coincides roughly with slackening 
of physiological development. The one disconcerting fact, 
however, is that the intelligence tests indicate a cessation in 
mental growth at the very age when the majority of children 
leave school. This at least gives rise to the suspicion that 
our intelligence tests are measuring a mental dexterity 


GUARDIANSHIP AND EDUCATION 163 


which is very dependent upon school environment. Were 
universal education extended to twenty years of age, we 
venture to predict that the present measures of intelligence 
would reveal the approach of mental maturity at a some- 
what later age than fourteen years. ‘The precise effect 
which this extension of education would have on the ratings 
by our current tests, can, in our present state of knowledge, 
only be surmised. 

Why is it so difficult to measure the growth of social and 
moral traits? While intellectual growth has occupied the 
center of the stage, during the past twenty years, serious 
attempts have also been made, at the various age levels, to 
measure such allied phases of growth as range of interest, 
choice of heroes, development of moral judgment, growth of 
moral behavior, etc. But these measurements of social and 
moral traits are so dependent upon the social milieu in which 
the child is placed that they, much less than the gauges of 
intellectual growth, can be interpreted as reflecting an inner 
development of the child. 

Is growth continuous? In a general treatise of this char- 
acter, even a brief summary of the vast amount of evidence 
that has been collected with reference to physical, mental, 
social, and moral growth is out of place. The point espe- 
cially worthy of emphasis is that growth in the individual, 
whether physical or mental, is on the whole uniform and 
continuous until maturity. While in extreme cases indi- 
viduals show periods of quiescence, followed by periods of 
extremely rapid development, and while in the vast major- 
ity of cases slight manifestations of the same phenomenon 
are found, yet, in the large, the old dictum — Natura non 
saltum facit—is unquestionably substantiated. If data 
were to be presented to combat this sweeping generaliza- 
tion, we should turn to the early years of adolescence. 
The little existing evidence which supports the theory of 


164 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


well-marked periods of negative and positive acceleration in 
growth is drawn from this source. 

Has measurement supported the theory of recapitula- 
tion? ‘The collection of experimental evidence on rate of 
growth has undermined the influence of those theories of 
education which have been based on the attractive notion 
that all individuals more or less uniformly pass through 
temporally well-defined stages of development. ‘The theory 
of recapitulation, which assumed that in the development of 
the individual, the instincts followed the order in which they | 
were evolved by the race, and assumed that their time of 
appearance in the maturing of the child might be readily 
catalogued, is moribund. Upon this attractive theory the 
culture epoch system of education was based; but such easy 
solutions to the problems of educational procedure are not 
available. Any guidance which educators may obtain from 
the studies of growth will come from patient investigations 
similar to those which are now being made on groups of 
children in experimental schools and classes. Here the be- 
havior of children from the earliest years, and under various 
types of environmental stimulation and psychological ex- 
perimentation, may be subjected to continuous and close 
scrutiny. Already these investigations have progressed so 
far that one conclusion is almost certain: any sudden changes 
which take place in the behavior-growth of the child, must 
be explained in terms of social forces playing upon the child, 
rather than in terms of abrupt physiological or psycholog- 
ical changes within the organism. 

How has infancy fostered the growth of the family? 
Sociologists have repeatedly pointed out that the prolonga- 
tion of infancy has led to the stabilization of the family. In 
the process of organic evolution, selection must have worked 
in favor of those families in which the inborn social and other 
tendencies of both parent and offspring were conducive to 


GUARDIANSHIP AND EDUCATION 165 


prolonged infancy. From these parental and filial tenden- 
cies, original or readily acquired, the altruistic inclinations 
of mankind are usually assumed to have developed. To 
attempt to trace the rise of morality and religion without 
constant reference to the family relation, and its consequent 
effects upon group life, is futile. 

What determines the value of an activity in infancy? 
Here, however, our concern is not with the evolutionary sig- 
nificance of prolonged infancy, but rather with the advan- 
tages which accrue to the individual from the protracted 
period of dependence characteristic of present civilization. 
Freedom from economic pressure and relief from the neces- 
sity of seeking food, shelter, and clothing enables the child 
to devote the major part of his time to the acquisition of 
those skills and knowledges, and to the formation of those 
moral and emotional dispositions which, in the judgment of 
his elders, are essential to successful participation in group 
life. Not that the child who is forced to surrender to 
economic pressure does not receive a valuable education 
through gaining a livelihood; but under these stern condi- 
tions the educative process is, perforce, sacrificed to eco- 
nomic production. In the case of the protected child, on 
the other hand, modifications of behavior constitute the aim 
of the activity and receive, on this account, the whole em- 
phasis. The touchstone of the process is not a product in 
the external world, but a change in the conduct of the indi- 
vidual participating in the activity. 

What qualities should characterize the school environ- 
ment? ‘This freedom from external aim gives opportunity 
to the educator to select from the total environment those 
aspects which are more calculated, than is a chance environ- 
ment, to produce the desired changes. In place of a world 
that is too severe, too puzzling, too difficult for the child, an 
economical, ordered, simplified, tolerant, and balanced en- 


166 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


vironment may be provided. When the word school is 
written on the portals of our educational institutions there 
is, alas, no mystical force which calls into existence this type 
of environment; the creation and ordering of such a special 
environment remains, and will always remain, an outstand- 
ing problem of society. Its solution should challenge the 
best minds of each generation. 

In an enlightened society the personnel, the curriculum, 
the organization, the methods, and the physical equipment 
of the schools must be subject to continuous critical re- 
vision. The principles which control this peculiar environ- 
ment must not be so doctrinaire as to cause the school to 
lose touch with the community. To make this agency 
foster a cloistered existence, and thereby to separate it 
from the prevailing conditions of life, is pernicious educa- 
tional policy. The school should be, the leavening force; 
only as its purified environment is closely articulated with 
the general life of the community can those who come within 
its range of influence be expected to give effective expression 
to the aims and ideals which are to purify our present social, 
industrial, and political order. There is reason for possessing 
a deep faith in education; through no other force can society 
be purged; but in the light of the present condition of our 
educational agencies this is little more than a pathetic faith. 
Can we expect a system of traditional education, which is 
unanalyzed and unsocialized, which is administered by a 
relatively inferior personnel, and which is guided by a 
limited vision, to equip our people for the creation of 
a democratic society? 

Is the school environment healthful? Attention must 
also be directed to the admirable opportunities for an ex- 
tensive program of health cultivation and instruction which 
prolonged guardianship affords. Freedom from economic 
pressure should enable, and indeed compel, the individual 


GUARDIANSHIP AND EDUCATION 167 


to give attention to this important phase of life. Up to the 
present the ascetic and scholastic traditions of education 
have fostered a criminal neglect of the physical life of the 
child; in fact many would say that the mfluence of the 
school has, on the whole, been detrimental to health. In 
view of the enforced artificiality of the indoor school life, 
it is particularly incumbent on education to work for the 
promotion of physical well-being. For the vast majority of 
pupils, a shghtly superior scholastic achievement gained at 
the expense of the cultivation of sound health and recrea- 
tional habits and dispositions, carries no adequate com- 
pensation. No longer can we assume that the home auto- 
matically provides the health and recreational facilities 
formerly found in an open-air life; on this account, the school 
must take upon itself the task which its own procedures and 
the crowded conditions of our city life have created. 

Does the school explore and recognize the capacities 
of the individual? The extension of the period of social 
infancy and of economic dependence also furnishes a pe- 
riod of exploration and experimentation, during which, 
with a view to present educational and eventual vocational 
guidance, the development of the pupil’s mechanical, social, 
and intellectual capacities can be closely studied by the 
educator, Decisions made in the experimental environ- 
ment of the school can be regarded as tentative; they are 
not irrevocable, as are many similar decisions in the outside 
world. Within the school itself care must be taken lest 
avenues of study and work be closed to the pupil before his 
interests and capacities have fully revealed themselves. 
But, at the same time, the desire to avoid this evil must not 
lead to the even greater evil of submitting all pupils to the 
same curriculum. 

In the light of the great individual differences in those 
traits which a broadened school should cultivate, early 


168 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


differentiation is absolutely essential; in many cases im- 
portant decisions will have to be made early in the school 
history of the child. A few serious mistakes of classifica- 
tion must be expected; to sacrifice the improvement of edu- 
cational practice which will follow from greater differentia- 
tion is not only short-sighted but cowardly. The evils 
flowing from such action will be negligible in comparison 
with the evils resulting from the patent blunders caused by 
our present policy of inaction. The two warnings that 
must be issued are: firstly, that the school, through objective 
tests, exploratory courses, and teachers’ reports, must 
study more diligently than heretofore the capabilities of the 
child; and, secondly, that classifications must be as tenta- 
tive as the general policy of differentiation will permit. 

In spite of the advantages which have been discussed, 
protracted guardianship is attended by many dangers 
which are the necessary concomitants of the very advan- 
tages mentioned. ‘To the extent that society fails to create 
the advantageous environment which has been described, 
the period of dependence fails to yield its maximum benefit. 
Some of these disadvantages, for which the prolonged 
period of dependence of the individual is partly responsible, 
may now be profitably reviewed. 

-How does prolonged guardianship foster social parasit- 
ism? Before considering the more direct educational im- 
plications, we must direct attention to two large social 
evils which may flow from prolonged guardianship. In the 
first place, the lengthy period during which the individual 
may rightly expect support from parent or community may 
breed the notion that society has the same obligation, even 
when the adult stage is reached. From this delusion the 
social parasite, whether exemplified by the idle rich at one 
extreme, or by the irresponsible hobo at the other, never 
emancipates himself. Reared in a system which satisfies 


GUARDIANSHIP AND EDUCATION 169 


their wants, without requiring service in return, the two 
extreme groups never free themselves from the habits 
formed during this period. Just as society provides them 
shelter, clothing, and food for the first fourteen to thirty 
years of life, so it must continue to support them for the rest 
of their days — such is their erroneous belief. 

How does prolonged guardianship affect the birth rate? 
The second evil which is commanding the attention of 
sociologists is the increased postponement or even renuncia- 
tion of marriage in those occupations which require not 
only a long course of professional training, but also a con- 
siderable further period of relatively unremunerative em- 
ployment. Lest the racial stock be impaired, in these 
classes should be found the maximum birth rate; but, under 
present conditions, their relative contribution to the in- 
crease of population is disproportionately low. This re- 
duction in the birth rate of the favored class is the product 
not only of deferred marriage, but also the long dependence 
which the more intelligent parents desire and know to be 
essential to the welfare of their offsprmg. To redress both 
these evils, the state may have to intervene with more 
stringent laws in the case of the idle and a subsidization of 
advanced study for individuals of superior gifts. 

How may society exploit the docility of the young? We 
may now return to consider certain of the more direct edu- 
cational evils which are apt to be the accompaniments of the 
prolonged period of guardianship. These, in spite of the 
fact that they have received general attention in Problem 4, 
are so Important as to merit consideration in the setting of 
our present discussion of guardianship. 

In the first place, the docility of the child and his desire 
for the approval of his elders permits and even encourages 
an undue domination of the rising generation by the older 
members of society; this domination becomes increasingly 


170 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


galling when, in spite of the obvious fact that it is the mani- 
festation of a selfish conservatism on the part of the older 
generation, it 1s rationalized as the expression of a wise and 
benign parental solicitude. Few teachers can forego. the 
opportunity to patronize rather than educate the young. 
Many individuals, who could never exact respect from their 
adult fellows, find a compensation for a feeling of inferiority 
in the slavish and sycophantic obedience of their pupils. 
We cannot too often remind ourselves that eventually the 
pupil is to pass out of the hands of the educator; if, during 
the period of schooling, he does not become increasingly in- 
dependent of external regulation, no sudden moral or in- 
tellectual conversion can be expected to follow the release 
from the restraints of the school. In order that the pupils 
may increase, the teacher must decrease. Morley, quoting 
Plutarch, “ warns young men that it is well to go for a light 
to another man’s fire, but by no means to tarry by it, in- 
stead of kindling a torch of their own.” In its more refined 
form this domination is expressed in a method of teaching 
which presents every subject of instruction, however de- 
batable and uncertain, as a body of finished and established 
truth. ‘The minds of the pupils are closed, their views are 
formed. ‘This prestige-suggestion of the teacher working in 
the intellectual realm is especially dangerous, for 1t seeks 
to mould thought into a fixed and final form. Before the 
individual has had the opportunity of making those con- 
tacts with life which would equip him with the materials 
for criticism, his mind is closed, his judgment is syste- 
matically and purposively warped. 

How may the school lose touch with life? In the second 
place, the purification and simplification of the environment 
which constitute the essence of sound education are neces- 
sarily accompanied by an artificiality of atmosphere and 
procedures. Within this environment there is an absence 


GUARDIANSHIP AND EDUCATION 171 


of those powerful drives which accompany activities en- 
gaged in to satisfy the primitive wants of hunger, shelter, 
and clothing. Furthermore, by parental or community 
authority, the child is compelled to enter the school environ- 
ment; he cannot, as on the playground, disengage himself 
when the activities become meaningless, exacting, or irk- 
some. Were this compulsion removed, educators would 
show more industry and ingenuity than at present in the 
construction of curricula and in the adaptation of instruc- 
tional methods. Instead of trusting so entirely to the 
efficacy of the birch, the scourge of public opinion, or the 
stronger rod of the law, they would court the interest of 
their pupils, and would devise more effective means of secur- 
ing pupil effort. Monopoly always creates abuse. Evi- 
dences of such abuse are not lacking in our own system of 
compulsory education. This point is well illustrated by 
the following comment, often heard in our colleges: ‘‘ Why 
alter our entrance requirements or modernize our course of 
study, when the prestige of the college is already more than 
filling our halls”? The vanes of our educational institu- 
tions are directed by the winds of tradition; our courses of 
study are too often divorced from the main interests and 
concerns of life. Those who shape the policies of the 
school are too occupied by the narrow activities of passing, 
failing, and graduating to articulate its activities with the 
changing conditions of the world. School procedure, sanc- 
tioned by centuries of practice, has come to have a value in 
and for itself. The true function of the school, and indeed 
its raison d’étre, is forgotten. The pupil enters the school, 
and soon uncritically accepts its archaic procedures and its 
medieval standards. Only in his extra-curricular life, and 
in the knowledge that his schooling must sooner or later 
come to an end, does he find an outlet and a safety valve 
which prevents him from being emotionally deranged by 
the artificiality of the environment. 


172 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


How may the school unduly sacrifice the present to the 
future? Closely allied to this danger is that of regarding 
the school solely as a place of preparation for an after school 
life. Under this conception of the educational function, 
the object of instruction is not that of making the present 
social life of the pupils more meaningful, but rather that of 
turning out, at the end of a prolonged school period, an 
educated product. 

As we shall see later, the nature of adult activities must 
exert a powerful influence on school procedures: to overlook 
this fact is disastrous. But the present life and social con- 
tacts of the pupil must be capitalized. This complete 
sacrifice of the present to the future is often referred to as 
the vestibule idea of education. Instruction under this 
conception lacks the drive and purpose which accompany 
activity possessing present significance. The necessary 
sacrifice of interest to future effectiveness which accom- 
panies the beginnings of writing, reading, and arithmetic 
has much to answer for in creating this attitude toward all 
education. ‘This is a devastating idea, not only because of 
its failure to give any immediate incentive to the pupil, but 
because the remoteness of the goal makes any critical evalu- 
ation of school procedure almost impossible. Just as the 
church has derived benefit by stressing the importance of 
present life as opposed to the life after death, so the school 
can derive a similar benefit by turning its attention to im- 
mediate rather than to remote values. We cannot be too 
critical of any school procedure which lacks present signifi- 
cance and is justified solely on the grounds of remote future 
utility. Life during the period of guardianship is not sus- 
pended or postponed. It has its own problems and its own 
values; problems and values which a wise system of educa- 
tion can never neglect. 


14. 


15. 


GUARDIANSHIP AND EDUCATION 173 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


. How does the length of the period of dependence differ among differ- 


ent races, and among different classes of the same race? 


. What experimental evidence is there to indicate that children can 


memorize more economically than adults? In what respects has the 
program of the elementary school been influenced by the notion that 
childhood is the age of rapid and easy memorization? 


. When do children begin to reason? Show the continuity that exists 


between the reasoning of a young child and the reasoning of an adult? 


. What intimate bearing does the theory of gradual growth have on 


educational practices — method, school organization, and curric- 
ulum? 


. Upon what evidence is the popular theory based that in his develop- 


ment the child passes through the stages through which the race 
passed in the course of its evolution? Answer this question both from 
the biological and cultural standpoint. 


. What beneficial effects would follow from making attendance at the 


elementary school optional? 


. How is it that the school, presumably dedicated to the revolution- 


ary process of thinking, is so frequently decidedly reactionary in its 
influence? | 


. Give illustrations from the schools of the past and the present of the 


passing on to children of prejudices, half-truths, and falsehoods about 
the world. 


. Is the prolongation of the period of guardianship for the benefit of 


the individual or of society? How has the answer to this question 
changed during the history of education? 


. What responsibilities as regards physical and moral, as well as intel- 


lectual growth, does the school necessarily assume under the length- 
ened school day and school year? 


. What factors in a society tend to prolong the period of dependence? 
. What provision should be made to insure to the individual a pro- 


longed period of dependence, regardless of the economic and social 
status of the parent? Is society working in the direction of assuming 
the whole economic burden of child support and education? 


. What would be the immediate and the deferred economic effects of 


the universal extension of education to eighteen years of age? 

What precautions should be taken lest the prolongation of the period 
of dependence should be accompanied by disinclination to bear social 
responsibilities? 

In view of the significance of a prolonged period of dependence, 
should bright children be promoted more rapidly than their fellows, 
if formal education is to cease at the end of the college period? 


PROBLEM 11 


HOW IS EDUCATION CONDITIONED BY INDIVIDUAL 
DIFFERENCES? 


How universal are individual differences? — How are differences distrib- 
uted? — What are the causes of individual differences? — How do the 
sexes differ? — How do the races differ? — What is the relative importance 
of heredity and environment? — How do individuals differ in a single 
trait? — Why is each individual unique? — How do individuals differ in 
combinations of traits? — How does the distribution of traits nullify the 
theory of types? — How must the school recognize the fact of individual 
differences? — Why must universal education have a great diversity of 
aim? — To what extent must selective education have regard to individual 
differences? 


How universal are individual differences? Every organism 
has characteristics which differentiate it from every other 
member of the same species. In the human race, the most 
complex product of the evolutionary process, these differ- 
ences are especially pronounced. Whether the grosser phys- 
ical characteristics of height, weight, and volume of body, or 
the more minute formations of skin-texture and thumb- 
prints be examined, the wide range of variation is apparent. 
Likewise in function, as in structure, the same phenomena 
are observed; in rate of heart-beat, speed of digestion, or 
physical endurance, individuality is expressed. 

To these departures of the individual from the norm of 
the group biologists apply the name “ variation.”” While 
in the study of biological traits this nomenclature is em- 
ployed, those variations in which the educator and the 
psychologist are more particularly interested, are usually 
referred to as “ individual differences.”” Thus the educator 
interests himself in the differences which exist, from indi- 
vidual to individual, in industry, courage, honesty, interest 


INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 175 


in his fellows, intelligence, executive ability, arithmetical 
facility, historical information, musical capacity, etc. All 
of these traits, and thousands like them, constitute a proper 
study for the educational psychologist. What is the extent 
of these differences? What are their causes? What is 
their significance? If the process of education is to be in- 
telligently conducted, these questions must be investigated. 

How are differences distributed? The discussion of 
these and other applied questions will be facilitated if at- 
tention is directed for a moment to the variation in a physi- 
cal characteristic, such as height. In this case objective 


—> FREQUENCY 


HEIGHT 


DistRIBUTION OF Hricnut In A Lance Unsevtectup Grour or MEN 
or Any Racr 


measurement in terms of inches or centimeters is possible. 
If the problem is restricted to a consideration of differences 
found in a large unselected group of men of any race, refer- 
ence to the accompanying diagram, in which the abscissa is 
the measure of height and the ordinate the frequency of the 
particular height, will reveal the nature of the distribution. 
There is a marked clustering around the average or median 


height of the group. The middle fifty per cent fall within 


176 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


relatively narrow limits, and the remainder distribute them- 
selves equally on either side, with diminishing frequency. 
The greater the deviation from the mean, the fewer are the 
individuals, until, at the extremes, only the dwarfs and 
giants are found. If, for the same or other homogeneous 
groups, the distribution of weight, length of index finger, or 
chest measurement is investigated, a frequency curve of the 
same general form is discovered. Within certain limits, so 
generally do such distributions follow a typical and well- 
known mathematical curve, called the normal probability 
curve, that the distribution of such traits may be thought of 
in terms of an approximation, more or less close, to its rigid 
mathematical form. Such a distribution can be expected 
only when the conditions that produce the trait are many in 
number and independent in their operation. According as 
more or less of these independent factors happen to operate 
in a particular case, more or less of the trait under examina~ 
tion is present. 

What are the characteristics of the normal distribution? 
Except for the fact that psychological traits tend to show 
the same type of distribution, such a curve would have only 
a theoretic interest to the educator. Provided an inborn 
trait is under consideration, it is safe to assume that quanti- 
tative investigation will reveal an approximation to the 
normal curve. Such indeed might be expected in view of 
the relation of psychological function to physiological pro- 
cess. In acquired traits, such as achievement in school 
subjects, any unselected group whose members have been 
submitted to somewhat similar training influences, will 
exhibit a distribution of like nature. Whenever problems of 
individual differences are under consideration, continuous 


1 Tf, on account of a lack of statistical theory, the reader has difficulty in 
understanding this statement, he must content himself with an examinae 
tion of the curve. 


INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 177 


reference to this typical form of “ bell-shaped ” distribution 
is necessary. Its study brings out the following three im- 
portant facts, which aid clear thinking in this field; first, 
the variations or differences found in any single trait are 
usually continuous; second, these variations cluster around 
a single type; third, any classifications into types are essen- 
tially arbitrary in their nature and find their only justifica- 
tion in practical convenience. 

Each one of these points may be illustrated by reference 
to a trait of basic significance to education, namely, the un- 
analyzed grouping of abilities commonly known as “ general 
intelligence.” For purpose of illustration, we shall assume 
that “ general intelligence ” is measured by a single scale, 
such as the Binet-Simon test or by some other examination 
which makes no attempt to analyze the relatively inde- 
pendent components of this complex trait. Under these 
conditions, from the lowest type of idiot to a level of intelli- 
gence possessed by a Socrates or a Newton, there is con- 
tinuous progression; in spite of the wide differences, the 
extremes are connected by imperceptible gradations of ca- 
pacity. In this trait there is but a single type from which all 
individuals may be regarded as deviating — the hypotheti- 
cal average man. Furthermore, any classification of men 
into idiot, imbecile, moron, dull, average, superior, very 
superior, genius, and super-genius is essentially a matter of 
definition. Since such lines of cleavage are not found in 
nature, these divisions are the arbitrary creation of man. 

What are the causes of individual differences? Any 
wide sampling, such as the population of a large cosmopoli- 
tan city, provides the material for the study of the various 
causes which account for the differences in human traits. 
These variations can all be classified under the following 
five divisions: 1. race differences; 2. family differences; 
3. sex differences; 4. age differences; 5. environmental and 


178 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


educational differences. Each individual of the group pos- 
sesses a unique quantitative combination of properties 
because of membership in a certain race, because of an 
hereditary endowment through his immediate ancestry, 
because of sex, because of degree of maturity, and because 
of certain special environmental and educational conditions. 

How do the sexes differ? With reference to sex and race 
differences, a passing mention must be made of the experi- 
mental evidence which has been collected. While there are 
great differences between the sexes in physiological struc- 
ture, and in emotional and mechanical traits some diver- 
gence, the distinction in intellectual traits seems slight. In 
emotional traits the scales are very insecure, but we may be 
sure from the fragmentary evidence that in social tact, 
companionship, and so-called intuition there is no out- 
standing superiority of one sex over the other. In intel- 
lectual traits, such as those measured by an abstract intelli- 
gence test, the evidence is still clearer, and here the two 
sexes manifest about equal capacity. Such differences as 
strike the observer must be traced rather to differences in 
environmental force playing on one sex, rather than to any 
fundamental difference in mechanical, social, or intellectual 
capacity. Recent researches, published by the Vaertings, 
into the physical and psychological traits exhibited by the 
two sexes in a civilization where women rather than men 
are dominant, suggest, and in fact almost prove, that those 
traits which we customarily regard as masculine are really 
the traits of the dominant sex. These are manifested by the 
women in those groups in which the female sex plays the 
dominant réle. Similarly, under such conditions, men as- 
sume many of the characteristics of the women of western 
civilization. Both observational and exact results are in 
striking contrast with the popular notion that men and 
women, in their inborn social and intellectual capacities, 


INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 179 


are, as classes, poles asunder. Even allowing for the fact 
that the experimental evidence has been obtained in some- 
what artificial situations, we can certainly say that, under 
the test conditions of the school and the laboratory, the 
differences in social, mechanical, and intellectual reactions 
within either of the sexes is so great, compared with the 
differences between the average achievements of the two 
sexes, that there is an almost complete overlapping of the 
two groups. Certainly differences are not sufficient on the 
intellectual side to justify the segregation of the boys and 
girls in instruction. 

How do the races differ? In the matter of race differ- 
ences the results are somewhat similar to those found in 
the case of sex. If we restrict our attention to unselected 
groups of all but the obviously backward races, there 
is but little evidence of great superiority of one race over 
another. The question is of course complicated by the 
different climatic, cultural, and occupational forces which 
play upon different races in different parts of the globe. 
Until these environmental forces can be made more nearly 
equal, or their effects more exactly measured, it is prema- 
ture to assume very marked differences in social and intel- 
lectual traits. The variation found within any one race is so 
great as compared with the difference in achievements of the 
various races as to make any sweeping assertions with refer- 
ence to racial superiority very precarious. 

Contrasting the colored population of the United States 
with the white population, after allowing for the difference 
in the opportunity, motivation, and tradition of the two 
groups, we may legitimately assume that the white popu- 
lation is, on the usual intelligence scale, a year or a year 
and a half superior to the pure stock of the colored race, but 
the overlapping in intellectual status of the two races is so 
great as to nullify the popular conception of the extreme 


180 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


differences of the two groups. A further common idea that 
the colored population develops mentally at just about the 
same rate as the white population, and suffers from arrested 
development in the early years of adolescence, also fails to 
receive any significant experimental support. 

Summarizing, we may say that sex differences and race 
differences exist, but that they are much less than is com- 
monly supposed. With reference to the former it is safe to 
say that, with the introduction of more refined methods for 
measuring the social and emotional reactions, greater differ- 
ences than those which have been found in intellectual traits 
will be revealed, but, until such instruments are available, 
the degree of the difference must remain unknown. 

What is the relative importance of heredity and environ- 
ment? To assign weight to each of the five factors pro- 
ducing individual differences would carry us into the realm 
of profitless controversy. However, the ever-recurring 
problem regarding the relative potency of hereditary as 
opposed to environmental forces may well be considered. 
Since the days of Galton’s pioneer work, much evidence 
bearing on this question, so fundamental for education, has 
been gathered. A review of the large amount of careful 
experimentation in this field leads to the conclusion that the 
earlier hypothesis of the almost complete efficacy of the 
environment must give way to a less comforting theory. 
The educational process, both on the social and the intel- 
lectual side, is much limited by the native differences in 
men. Without a range of vision denied to mortals no one is 
able to state dogmatically that the evidence shows native 
equipment to be more potent than environment in shaping 
human behavior. So closely interdependent are the two 
factors that such a bald statement is meaningless. But 
that the native endowment has not, up to the present, been 
given due weight in educational theory may be said with 


INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 181 


confidence. Any system of education or any system of 
social control which assumes the almost complete omnipo- 
tence of environmental forces is doomed to failure. As the 
civil engineer takes into account the inherent properties of 
the materials with which he works, so the human engineer 
must control his activities in the light of those inborn 
properties of men which environment is powerless to create 
or to destroy. 

How do individuals differ in a single trait? Individual 
differences in a single trait should always be regarded as 
quantitative, rather than qualitative. ‘The complete ab- 
sence of a particular trait, such as lack of knowledge of 
Sanscrit, which is ordinarily regarded as a qualitative differ- 
ence, is only the limiting case of zero ability on a scale for 
measuring acquaintance with this ancient language. Among 
individuals who have studied Sanscrit for a definite period of 
time, a distribution approximating the normal type would 
be found. While objective scales for the measurement of 
many of the more important social and moral traits are still 
lacking, this should not prevent thought regarding these 
traits from being guided by quantitative concepts. At the 
present moment, we see emerging more or less satisfactory 
instruments for the measurement of a certain narrow type 
of intelligence, particularly that form upon which a bookish 
and intellectualized type of school is dependent. The in- 
creasing popularity of these instruments, and particularly 
their wide use in practical affairs, have hastened and en- 
couraged quantitative thinking with reference to this most 
important group of human capacities. For measuring per- 
sistence, emotional stability, moral integrity, codperative 
ability, and a host of other fundamental human traits, no 
reliable scales are as yet available; nevertheless, the dis- 
tribution of these traits presumably follows the normal 
probability curve. A few are highly endowed, many are 


182 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


moderately gifted, and a small number have but little 
capacity. 

Why is each individual unique? The development of 
personality through the modification of original nature by a 
slow process of habit-formation is conditioned by the unique 
combination of traits with which the individual is endowed 
at birth. If we consider, firstly, those loose groupings of 
behavior-reactions known as instincts, it is patent that 
every individual is endowed, to a certain degree, with each 
tendency. But if the repertoire of instincts permitted suffi- 
ciently clear definition, and then permitted correspondingly 
precise measurement, we should discover that each indi- 
vidual had varying amounts of each of the tendencies. The 
complexity of this compounding of elements precludes the 
possibility of identical original natures. 

The number of combinations which can be formed from 
a few tendencies, showing wide quantitative differences, is 
infinite. When we consider how numerous are the original 
tendencies, it is little wonder that nature never repeats her- 
self. As an essential property of the action system, though 
not separate from the instincts themselves, the plasticity 
upon which habit formation is dependent must also be men- 
tioned. Men differ as much in their plasticity as they doin 
any other respect. In the ability to make those more re- 
fined integrations which accompany reflection, still greater 
differences exist. If dissimilar environments are allowed to 
act upon these differences in original structure, extremely 
wide variations in personality and character may be antici- 
pated. 

How do individuals differ in combinations of traits? 
This introduces us to one of the most important problems 
raised by the phenomena of individual differences. Not 
only is the manner in which a single trait distributes itself 
among the population a subject of concern to us, but, of 


INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 183 


even greater interest, is the way in which various traits are 
combined and related in the same individual. Extensive 
quantitative studies of the distribution of important mental 
traits, in large groups of children, have shown that high en- 
dowment in one desirable tendency is apt to be accompanied 
by more than the average endowment in others. While no 
definite law can be stated, the correlation between desirable 
intellectual and social traits is certainly positive. When the 
elements are mixed to form a man, nature tends, on the 
whole to be uniformly generous, uniformly moderate, or 
uniformly niggardly. The old comforting theory of com- 
pensation, which assumes that meager gifts in one direction 
are compensated for by superior endowment in some other 
equally valuable quality, is not in accord with facts.. Not- 
withstanding some superficial evidence to the contrary, 
intellectual ability, mechanical skill, emotional stability, 
persistence, and other desirable qualities seem to be posi- 
tively associated. 

This does not mean that the same individual may not be 
much more highly endowed in one direction than in another; 
statistical investigations have merely proved that one form 
of superior native talent is, as a rule, the accompaniment of 
other forms of original excellence. Of course, specialized 
training may develop one capacity at the expense of an- 
other, and thus tend to give the impression that a princi- 
ple of compensation operates. or example, a man of in- 
tellectual pursuits, brought up in an atmosphere of leisure, 
may never have the opportunity nor the occasion to culti- 
vate his mechanical aptitudes. Under these conditions his 
mental agility may be in marked contrast with his manual 
disability. Such a case, of course, proves nothing. To es- 
tablish the theory of compensation it would be necessary to 
prove that he, or men of his class, had their circumstances 
necessitated the gaining of manual dexterity, would have 


184 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


shown themselves incompetent in this field. The available 
experimental evidence indicates, that persons of superior 
_ mental endowment, if given adequate training, would also 
be superior, as a rule, in mechanical achievement. The old 
assumption of the existence of clearly defined mental and 
motor types, in one of which every individual must fall, 
finds no experimental support. 

How does the distribution of traits nullify the theory of 
types? On account of the positive correlation in the various 
desirable traits, any attempt to divide individuals into a few 
recognized types is futile. False theories of educational 
guidance, based on the erroneous doctrine that all individ- 
uals tend to conform more or less closely to one of the 
several clearly marked types, have long been championed. 
The claim has been made that around each one of these 
hypothetical types a large number of individuals cluster. 
According to this doctrine, the particular type to which an 
individual conforms may be quickly determined by examin- 
ing a few basic traits. If the main characteristics of each 
of these types are discovered educational procedure may, 
with advantage, be adjusted to each of these relatively few 
natural groupings. A doctrine of this kind, with its conse- 
quent simplification of many of the problems of instruction, 
is so attractive that, even though the experimental evidence 
proves it in error, educators have been loath to abandon it. 

In one form or another this theory crops out again and 
again in all thinking on social and educational theory; it is 
rampant in popular writing, on classification of pupils, and 
vocational guidance. In the days of Plato, it was the philos- 
opher, the warrior, and the artisan which formed the natural 
classifications and determined political theory and education. 
Yesterday it was the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic types 
which must be segregated and given separate instruction. 
To-day 2 recrudescence of the same idea is exhibited by those 


INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 185 


who insist that children can be separated into two groups, 
those who “ work with their heads ” and those who “ work 
with their hands.” Recent studies in which the mechanical 
aptitude and the intelligence of children are measured show 
that, in certain cases, high ability of the former order may 
be the concomitant of relatively low intelligence. But, how- 
ever true the observation may be that in particular individ- 
uals marked intellectual ability is combined with an equally 
marked manual disability, or the reverse, such cases can 
never establish the type theory. In combinations of traits, as 
in single traits, men vary around one and only one type, the 
human type. The only type which can be postulated is the 
hypothetical average, commonplace, mediocre human from 
which every individual! diverges to a greater or less degree. 

Why must education treat each individual as unique? 
Abandoning the theory of types, we are driven to study 
each individual by himself to discover the measure in which 
he is endowed with various human traits. Particularly 
must those which he possesses in relatively larger degree 
than his other traits be singled out for special attention. 
Each individual must be treated as a separate problem; no 
resort can be made to any false simplification. An uncriti- 
cal acceptance of the fact of positive correlation between 
desirable traits should not lead to a pessimistic and de- 
terministic attitude with regard to the possibilities of educa- 
tion. Having explored the capabilities of a particular child 
in a few directions, only to find him deficient in each, one is 
always tempted to follow the generalization and come to the 
hasty conclusion that he is correspondingly poorly endowed 
in every trait. We find him poor in certain traits, which the 
present school values highly, and we assume that he is poor 
in all other respects. 

The cure for this fatalistic manner of thinking is found in 
two directions, strangely opposed in their emphasis: firstly 


186 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


an eternal optimism regarding the possibilities of human 
nature; secondly, a more adequate understanding of the 
statistical significance of correlation. Optimism is neces- 
sary to motivate the search for those traits in which the 
child is relatively strong; a more adequate understanding of 
the significance of correlation shows that, however uniform 
may be the general tendency to positive correlation between 
desirable traits, within this general trend individual cases 
will diverge markedly from the rule. The -very statistical 
studies to which appeal is made when discarding the theory 
of compensation prove with equal conclusiveness that in 
every individual some traits stand out favorably from his 
general level of capacity. Even though, with reference to 
the general population, an individual may be relatively low 
in all traits, certain of his powers raise themselves above the 
rest. Through these the individual should find a mode of 
expression and gain a recognition which his average level of 
attainment could never earn. ‘The financial failure may 
have a gift for friendship, and, in a specific direction, the 
village dullard may show a reliability and a faithfulness 
which genius might envy. The large problem raised by the 
special abilities and disabilities which are found to exist 
within the same individual demands the careful considera- 
tion and minute study of the educator. 

How must the school recognize the fact of individual 
differences? ‘The school must have a diversity in its ob- 
jectives and methods which is comparable with the diver- 
sity in human nature. The recognition of individual differ- 
ences calls for a differentiation and a flexibility of curricu- 
lum and procedure which are limited only by the social and 
individual needs to be served and by the teaching resources 
of the school. As long as the school was a purposefully se- 
lective agent and opened its doors only to those who were 
later to form a learned class, there was some reason for the 


INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 187 


glorification of an intellectual ideal. To-day, under totally 
different conditions, there is no justification for such a nar- 
row conception of aim. 

We are in the greatest peril of measuring every individual 
and every process by a single standard. “ Either learn or 
depart, there is no third way here,” may be a sound motto 
to inscribe on the gates of the common school; but the 
connotation of the word “ learn” must be carefully and 
critically examined. If to learn includes growth in mechani- 
cal skills, in the formation of health habits, in social habi- 
tudes, in the power to codperate, in the recognition of the 
obligations of group life, in the enjoyment of companion- 
ship, in the love of music, in the appreciation of art, in an 
attitude of willing service, then the motto is an excellent 
one; but, if to “ learn ” signifies merely the gaining of facil- 
ity in certain intellectual studies, such a motto is vicious. 
A school system with the single intellectual objective has 
much to answer for in the discouragement, thwarting, badg- 
ering, and heckling to which it submits a portion of its popu- 
lation — that portion which does not happen to possess the 
powers demanded by its relatively narrow disciplines. 
Many a child leaves school with an “ inferiority-complex ” 
which, if it does not color his whole life, only vanishes as a 
result of several years of successful experience in the more 
catholic and tolerant contacts of the everyday world. 

Unless the common school is willing to set up other ob- 
jectives than those of high academic attainment, the ques- 
tion may well be asked whether compulsory attendance to 
the age of sixteen is good for all. If, for a considerable num- 
ber of the pupils, such attendance means continuous coer- 
cion in externally imposed activities under conditions of 
anti-social competition, perchance the moral disintegration 
brought about by such a process may more than counter- 
balance the small amount of book knowledge gained. 


188 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


Whether the experiences incident to the gaining of a liveli- 
hood, even under our present industrial conditions, would 
not be for many more educative than those of the typical 
academic school is a debatable question. 

As a people we have an abounding confidence in the good 
that is derived by every child from mere bodily presence in 
the precincts of the school. Whatever the quality of the 
teacher, whatever the content of the curriculum, whatever 
the nature of the motivation, whatever the social organiza- 
tion of the school group, we believe that only good can 
eventuate from attendance. A more critical examination 
of the results of the educational process, especially in the 
later years of adolescence, might well make us restless in 
this comforting belief. The obvious benefit derived by 
some of the more intellectually gifted pupils should not 
blind us to the equally obvious futility of imposing this type 
of education on all. While it may be going too far to state 
that, in the upper levels of the system, the total influence of 
the school on a portion of its population is negative, we are 
on firm ground in asserting that, in comparison with the 
possibilities, the school is failing lamentably. 

Why must universal education have a great diversity of 
aim? If universal compulsory education is to justify itself, 
educators, recognizing the intellectual limitations imposed 
by nature, must embark on fearless experimentation in the 
attempt to make the activities of the school more meaning- 
ful and more serviceable to its diverse clientele. Different 
aims, different curricula, different social organizations must 
be tried. Particularly joint activities must be sought 
through which children of modest intellectual capacity may 
acquire those mechanical skills, those elements of informa- 
tion, and those social attitudes which form the entrance re- 
quirements to the simpler walks of life. Particularly also 
must be stressed actual participation in those concrete ac- 


INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 189 


tivities whereby a socially enlightened community will induct 
the individual into a fuller physical, family, economic, civic, 
recreational, and religious life. 

Intellectual snobbery and the educational spirit go ill to- 
gether. Each separate curriculum which is derived from 
the careful study of the needs of any group in the school 
population should carry a dignity and receive the support 
and recognition which must always attach to any activity 
having as its objective the betterment of mankind. Let no 
one be so bold as to assign final relative values to these vari- 
ous types of educational activity; there is no room for in- 
tellectual pharisaism so long as each activity has an abso- 
Jute and intrinsic worth to the individual who pursues it. 
Superiority, except with reference to certain objectives, is 
without meaning; industry regards as superior the man who 
plays its game; the school, the man who has intellectual 
talent; the family, the man who has the gift for affection; 
the church, the man who is capable of self-sacrifice; society, 
the man who is willing to give social service. The world of 
which the school forms a part calls for such varied abilities, 
for such a wide range of talents, for such a host of services, 
that it ill befits the school to laud one somewhat narrow type 
of superiority at the expense of the rest. A tolerant catho- 
licity must permeate all our thinking about the functions of 
the common school. 

To what extent must selective education have regard to 
individual differences? What has just been said applies 
more particularly to the period of compulsory education. 
Beyond this stage, in so far as the population of the school 
is unselected, mutatis mutandis, the same principles apply. 
When, however, special institutions are created with specific 
aims which plan only to cater to particular groups, the whole 
situation is changed. A study of individual differences in 
these cases would merely be helpful in devising effective in- 


190 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


struments for selecting those who might reasonably be 
expected to benefit from the special instruction and to suc- 
ceed in the particular calling. Education is much too ex- 
pensive, both in money, and, more especially, in the more 
important direction of human effort, to allow ill-sorted indi- 
viduals to clog and retard the working of such specialized 
agencies. Even within these institutions a certain amount 
of choice should be offered in the form of electives, for, how- 
ever strict may be the process of selection, the individual 
differences that may be expected in such a group are, of 
necessity, great. ‘These should be allowed that limited ex- 
pression which is consonant with the main objectives of the 
institution. 

What is the social significance of individual differences? 
This discussion of individual differences may be closed and 
summarized by stressing the following six points: 

(1) The need for accurate knowledge of the extent of in- 

dividual differences. 

(2) The necessity for wider aims in the school and in so- 
ciety. 

(3) The need for adapting the methods of education to 
these differences. 

(4) The importance of cultivating in each person those 
traits in which, compared with the general level of 
his equipment, he is more richly endowed, provided 
these traits are socially useful and capable of yielding 
satisfaction to the individual. 

(5) The importance of attaching a dignity and worth to 
many and different types of activity and occupation. 

(6) The importance of instilling into each individual the 
conviction that there are some special services which, 
on account of inborn difference or peculiar environ- 
mental circumstances, he, and he alone, can render. 


if. 


12. 


INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 191 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


. What definite administrative practices, in recent education in this 


country, can be traced directly or indirectly to a recognition of the 
importance of individual differences? 


. How can the fact of individual differences be reconciled with a demo- 


cratic conception of education and social life? 


. What is the distinction between a qualitative and quantitative differ- 


ence in human traits? Criticize the statement that differences in 
human personality are qualitative as well as quantitative? 


. Suppose the absurd attempt were made to equalize the term achieve- 


ment of all members of a class in algebra, what devices would have 
to be employed? 


. How has the idea of the normal distribution of traits shattered many 


of the old theories based on clearly differentiated types? 


. What justification is there for the statement that the concept of the 


distribution of traits according to the normal probability curve is 
perhaps the most fertile concept in the field of the social sciences? 
Show its significance in the field of education? 


. What arguments would you adduce in favor of the theory that moral 


differences are much more the product of environmental forces than 
are intellectual differences? 


. What are the advantages and disadvantages of giving to children 


information as to their relative standings in intelligence and educa- 
tional tests? 


. What arguments can be adduced to justify the expenditure of public 


funds for the extension of unusual and-costly educational privileges 
to: (a) the mental defective; (b) the intellectual superior? 


. What are the factors in the ordinary school situation which make 


extremely difficult the adequate recognition of individual differences? 
To what extent, in the existing economic order, do individual differ- 
ences actually determine vocational choice? 

What bearing have the known facts of individual differences on the 
proposed extension of universal compulsory education to the age of 
eighteen? 


ordi eas nM tas 


a oe ua’ Vigre at 


Mat eS oF tly were ba py 
ae ae Vf | 
5) We eis ian ne + Aa ie 
. bet hie iy’ rere’ 


Higcax ten Gal Laden Ler a? aceon, 


oh tn. Bhatt oust i Netyal 





PART THREE 


WHAT ARE THE SOCIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS 
OF EDUCATION? 


Turovucn education the child acquires control over the instrumentalities 
of civilization, and learns to participate in the life of his time. Therefore 
the only guide to a sound educational program is to be found in a critical 
analysis of this life. Such an analysis shows that there are six great inter- 
ests about which human life revolves, and through which human nature is 
given expression. Men must always care for their bodies, rear their chil- 
dren, secure the economic necessities, organize for civic action, engage in 
recreation, and satisfy their religious cravings. Since the modes in which 
these needs find expression are the product of the cumulative experience 
of successive generations, the advance, and even the conservation of cul- 
ture, depends on their successful transmission. Hence, from the begin- 
ning of human history, skills, knowledges, and ideals — the slow product 
of action, thought, and feeling — have by a process of tuition been passed 
from parent to child. Thus the social heritage has been conserved and 
youth has been inducted into the life of the group. Inthe past the major 
portion of this educational burden has been borne by the informal agencies; 
the school has touched life only at those points which to minds of scholastic 
temper seemed of the greatest moment. To-day, in almost every field of 
human interest, owing to the growth of knowledge, the expansion of 
human society, and the formulation of social purposes, grievous malad- 
justment abounds and achievement lags far behind possibility. The task 
of moderating this maladjustment and of bringing practice abreast of 
knowledge, having become too heavy for the incidental educational 
agencies, must be performed in increasing measure by the school. Because 
of the differentiation in modern society, the discovery and conservation of 
knowledge may leave the lives of the masses unaffected; through special- 
ists this possession may remain from age to age an esoteric and relatively 
inert body of experience. The school, at all levels, must abandon its 
narrow literary and scholastic tradition and steadfastly associate and 
intimately identify itself with the activities of a people searching for a 
democratic mode of living. It must seek to further the physical and 
mental health of the population, to promote wholesome family relations, 
to order and humanize industry, to advance and purify the civic interest, 
to enrich and make significant the recreational activities, and to foster an 
ethical and enlightened religious life. Such an education would, to the 
limit of his capacity, fit each man “to perform justly, skillfully, and 
magnanimously all the offices both private and public” of a world citizen. 


An understanding of the sociological foundations of education requires 
the discussion of the following problems: 


PROBLEM 12. How may Epucation Furtaer HEearu? 

ProsBLem 13. How may Epucation Promote THE Famivy Lire? 

ProsLem 14, How may Epucation Orper anp HumanizE THE Economic 
Lire? 

ProsiemM 15. How may Epucation ADVANCE THE Crvic Lire? 

Propiem 16. How may Epucation Enricu THE RECREATIONAL LIFE? 

Prosiem 17. How may Epucation Foster tHe Rexiicious Lire? 


PROBLEM 12 
HOW MAY EDUCATION FURTHER HEALTH? 


Why should health be the first concern of education? — How has man 
sought to control disease? — What degree of health do the American 
people enjoy? — How does civilization modify the conditions of healthful 
living? — Is a more healthful world possible? — Why does health practice 
lag behind health knowledge? — Why must the school bear larger respon- 
sibilities in the promotion of health? — How may the school provide for 
the formation of health habits? — How may the school impart health 
information? — How may the school develop a health conscience? — How 
must the school modify its program? 


Why should health be the first concern of education? 
Health, the basis of both individual and social welfare, is 
the essence of life. Only a virile people is able to develop 
and maintain a high type of civilization, and only a robust 
individual can in fullest measure make actual his potential 
gifts. Since health is the condition of balanced and normal 
functioning of the life processes, in so far as it is impaired, 
life itself is compromised. The close dependence of mental 
on physiological processes and changes makes health almost 
essential to happiness and large intellectual achievement. 
While there are many isolated instances that suggest the 
contrary, the very attention they attract indicates their ex- 
ceptional nature and goes far to prove the soundness of the 
principle of dependence. 

Recent investigations of school children have exploded 
the popular notion that extraordinary mental development 
is usually accompanied by physical weakness, and have 
confirmed the opposing hypothesis of a positive correlation 
between these two phases of growth. Health holds the dis- 
tinction of being a good in itself and a means to all else. 


196 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


This suggests the oft-quoted statement of Spencer that 
**'To be a good animal is the first requisite to success in life, 
and to be a nation of good animals is the first condition to 
national prosperity.” And it must have been in the mind of 
Hippocrates when he said, “‘ Wherever there is love of man- 
kind, there is love of the medical art.”’ 

How have men regarded health? By all peoples that. 
have not been influenced by some unnatural philosophy 
which exalts the mortification of the body and seeks to 
promote the spirit at the sacrifice of the flesh, the funda- 
mental réle of health in human affairs has been recognized. 
Throughout the ages men have yearned for health and life, 
and have dreaded disease and death; they have gone on 
innumerable quests for the fountain of perpetual youth, 
whose waters would break the hold of years; they have 
sought the elixir of life, with which to prolong their days on 
the earth; they have created Fausts, who in their old age 
sell their souls for the return of youthful vigor; they have 
imagined Utopias, where there is neither sickness nor want; 
they have even denied death, and dreamed of worlds be- 
yond the skies in which they hope to live the life of eternal 
youth. Any new cult, however fantastic it may be, that 
promises relief from suffering and disease is almost certain 
of a large following; any nostrum, regardless of the nature 
of its ingredients, that is widely advertised for the curing 
of a common malady is sure to interest thousands. The 
ubiquitous drug store in our cities is a striking witness to our 
great concern about disease. Two hundred years ago “a 
pox upon you ” was one of the common curses; to-day the 
ordinary salutation is merely a formalized query concerning 
health, and the farewell usually carries a wish for the con- 
tinuance or the improvement of bodily vigor. Men have 
long recognized that with health are interwoven all the for- 
tunes of life. 


HEALTH AND EDUCATION 197 


How has man sought to control disease? During his long 
career on the earth man has learned much about disease. 
From the beginning of his upward struggle through sav- 
agery and barbarism to civilization sickness has attracted his 
earnest attention. ‘Time and again plagues and scourges 
have visited him, carrying off with little warning great num- 
bers of the population; while in less spectacular fashion 
the minor ailments have quietly exacted their toll of human 
life. In his efforts to gain control over these destroying 
forces man has evolved a vast array of hypotheses concern- 
ing the nature and causation of disease. For centuries at a 
time, in blind faith, he has followed some seemingly promis- 
ing lead only to erect superstitions to bar the way to genuine 
progress. He has thought to see relations that do not exist, 
and endeavored to promote health through a study of the 
courses of the stars; he has assumed the working of forces 
that are but the creatures of his imagination, and made 
propitiatory sacrifices to evil and unfriendly spirits. Until 
quite recent times it was customary to regard disease as 
either a diabolical visitation or a divine punishment. In 
the Middle Ages amber was worn upon the person with the 
assurance that it was a certain protection against fevers, and 
to-day among certain elements of the population there is a 
naive faith in the efficacy of drugs. 

Not all the premises, however, on which man has worked 
have proved false. Some have been found true; and from 
these, sifted out from the false through the slow process 
of trial and error, in which error frequently meant death, 
there has gradually evolved the science of medicine... With 
the coming of the modern world men began to study the 
human organism with greater and greater care, and thus 
developed the sciences on which medicine is based and 
through which the medical art is being improved. As a 
consequence, within the last three or four centuries man has 


198 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


practically banished certain diseases, such as bubonic plague 
and smallpox, from the civilized regions of the earth; he has 
greatly reduced the prevalence of others, such as typhoid 
fever and diphtheria; and he has increased the average 
length of life from twenty to more than forty years. This 
achievement has been possible through the formal education 
of a few specialists and the incidental education of the 
masses of the population —a marvelous achievement in 
view of the fact that no great collective effort has been made 
to utilize, for the benefit of the race, all available knowl- 
edge. 

What degree of health do the American people enjoy? 
The entire harvest of these past sowings, therefore, has by 
no means been gathered. We obviously stand to-day only 
at the beginning. Much remains to be done. Our knowl- 
edge greatly outstrips our practice. Consider for a moment 
the present situation as regards physical defect, illness, acci- 
dent, lowered vitality, and premature death. As a people 
we come from a vigorous racial stock and we live in a rela- 
tively healthful climate, yet physical defect is all but unt- 
versal and preventable disease passes no one by. ‘The late 
World War disclosed an unexpectedly large amount of physi- 
cal impairment in that portion of the population which is 
supposed to be most robust. Approximately thirty per 
cent of our young men between the ages of twenty-one and 
thirty-one years, who were called in the draft, were disquali- 
fied for active military service because of physical defects. 
In some of the great industrial centers this percentage rose 
toa much higher figure, while in certain other sections of the 
country it.was cut in half, 

That defects of this order are not confined to our adult 
population is shown by the examination of school children. 
According to competent investigators, about three fourths of 
the children enrolled in our schools are in need of attention 


HEALTH AND EDUCATION 199 


for physical defects which are partially or wholly remediable. 
During the next ten years six millions of people in the United 
States will probably die from preventable disease. The an- 
nual cost in dollars and cents of such ailments exceeds the 
entire expenditure for the support of our schools, and the 
cost in human happiness is incalculable. While the preva- 
lence of the communicable diseases is declining, there are 
other diseases, notably cancer and the chronic organic dis- 
eases affecting the heart, blood vessels, and kidneys, which 
are on the increase. Because of ignorance, poverty, or indif- 
ference there are many people in the nation who, even in 
cases of serious illness, have no medical care whatsoever. 
The percentage of such persons is, of course, difficult to de- 
termine with any great degree of accuracy, but the findings 
of various medical surveys, conducted in different parts of 
the country, indicate that it is far from negligible. To the 
burden cf illness and physical defect must be added that of 
accident. Annually in the United States.there are about 
2,000,000 accidents of sufficient severity to keep the indi- 
vidual from work for a period of at least four weeks. Of 
these, 75,000 are fatal. But, altogether apart from the 
spectacular misfortunes of defect, disease, and accident, hu- 
man life may be greatly deepened and invigorated. Because 
of the operation of a wide variety of forces, to be considered 
shortly, the great majority of people to-day suffer from low- 
ered vitality. Through the application of knowledge al- 
ready available the general physical efficiency of the ordi- 
nary individual could be greatly increased. Finally, as a 
consequence of physical defect, disease, accident, and low- 
ered vitality, there is much premature death. Although the 
average length of life is greater than in times past, it is still 
from six to eight years less in the United States than in cer- 
tain other countries, such as Denmark, Norway, and 
Sweden; and medical authorities tell us that it could be 


200 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


increased at least ten years by adopting hygienic reforms 
already proven entirely practicable. 

How does civilization modify the conditions of healthful 
living? The tendencies toward physical impairment in its 
various aspects are greatly aggravated by the changed con- 
ditions under which man lives. If any organism suffers a 
striking alteration in its environment or mode of life, it is 
a well-known fact that there follows a period during which 
it is especially subject to disease. An illustration of this 
process is furnished when a primitive race comes into con- 
tact with a highly developed civilization, and succumbs 
rapidly to strange diseases for which it has no special im- 
munity. The organism requires time to work out a biological 
adaptation to the new conditions, and it may perish in the 
process. Civilized man to-day is in a position not wholly 
different from that of the primitive race to which reference 
has just been made. He is living in a new environment to 
which adaptation cannot be effected through the alteration 
of the biological inheritance, because this environment is 
constantly changing. Man finds himself at present in an 
artificial environment which is in large part his own crea- 
tion — an environment which is very different from that in 
which the human organism was evolved. As we have al- 
ready noted, through control over disease and the food 
supply the conditions of life have been eased somewhat and 
the length of life has been increased, but there are many 
factors in modern life that tend to offset these gains. 

We are apparently leaving forever the old world whose 
dominant elements were earth, sky, trees, streams, moun- 
tains, prairies, sunshine, storms, snow, rain, winter, summer, 
wild animals, raw food, footpaths, abundance, scarcity, 
floods, droughts, starvation, early marriage, violence, re- 
laxation, hunting, and fishing; and we are moving into a 
world of clothing, houses, chairs, artificial heat, electricity, 


HEALTH AND EDUCATION 201 


cooked foods, spices, locomotives, trolleys, automobiles, 
aeroplanes, telephones, books, newspapers, microscopes, 
machines, late marriage, prostitution, hospitals, sanitariums, 
poorhouses, schools, libraries, drugs, doctors, dentists, opti- 
cians, obstetricians, birth control, suicide, cities, sewage 
systems, slums, wealth, theaters, churches, continuous em- 
ployment, uninteresting occupations, factories, sedentary 
life, and specialization. This new world creates its own 
mental and physical diseases and defects. 

While for many the approach of death may be postponed 
by removing the dangers to life and making it easier to live, 
there is no guarantee that this is not purchased at the price 
of a weakened race and a reduced zest in living. A race of 
men is needed that can live in this man-made world, and, 
since we cannot wait for the slow processes of organic evolu- 
tion to produce such a race, there remains only the method 
of education. But if this method is used, the educational 
program should be of sufficient scope to attack the problem 
in its twofold aspect. On the one hand, we should give to 
the individual those habits, knowledges, interests, and ideals 
which fit him to live a healthy life under the conditions of 
civilization; and, on the other, we should strive so to modify 
these conditions that they will tend to conserve rather than 
destroy human life. 

Is a more healthful world possible? ‘There is no good 
reason for believing that the task which education is here 
asked to undertake is an impossible one, provided that very 
intelligence can be brought to bear upon it which has 
brought civilization into being. The progress of the past in 
controlling disease, in spite of no general and conscious 
effort on the part of society, suggests that this important 
portion of the problem is easily soluble. Something over a 
generation ago Pasteur said that “ It is within the power of 
man to rid himself of every parasitic disease.” In the case 


202 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


of certain diseases the truth of this statement has already 
been demonstrated, and in speaking of tuberculosis, one of 
the most stubborn of this class of human ailments, Earl 


Mayo has declared: 


If the members of the medical profession were given a free hand 
to deal with this disease, backed by adequate provision for the 
care of existing cases, tuberculosis could be practically stamped 
out within a single generation. 


The work of Gorgas in the Panama Zone shows what is 
possible. In the course of ten years one of the most disease~ 
ridden spots of the earth was made healthful; yellow fever, 
the scourge of the tropics, was completely rooted, out; and 
the general death rate was reduced about ninety per cent. 
Equally striking have been the achievements of the naval 
medical service in certain islands of the Pacific, where the 
authorities have been unhampered in their efforts to grapple 
with the health problems of the population. The National 
Safety Council has proved that three fourths of industrial 
accidents are preventable; the work of the army has shown 
that many physical defects are amenable to treatment; and 
in innumerable instances the efficacy of the rules of per- 
sonal hygiene has been established. The President of the 
American Medical Association has recently said: } 

If doctors could apply all they know to all the people, not only 


would life be prolonged and human happiness increased, but the 
whole aspect and order of life would be altered. 


Why does health practice lag behind health knowledge? 
Here is a great body of knowledge which man has been 
slowly accumulating through the centuries and which can 
usher in a much more healthful world than the one in which 
we live. Why is it not being utilized? Various answers to 


1 Wilbur, R. L.: Convention of Tri-State Medical Association, Des 
Moines, Iowa, November, 1923. 


HEALTH AND EDUCATION 203 


this question suggest themselves. The development of 
science has been so recent that as yet society has made no 
genuine and systematic effort to find a place for it in the 
general social economy. It is not strange that scientific 
method, assailed so bitterly for generations by all the forces 
of the established order, and hardly tolerated to-day in 
many quarters, receives no adequate appreciation. In 
other words our customs do not adequately recognize the 
importance of this body of knowledge or the method by 
which it has been derived. As habits tend to persist in the 
life of the individual, customs resist change in the life of the 
group. We have but lately emerged from savagery, and 
our entire system of thought and belief shows only too 
plainly its origin. Vestiges of the superstitions of forgotten 
ages cling to us as the accent of his native tongue clings to 
the outlander long after he has lost touch with the homelanc. 

Moreover, the origin of our schools antedates the develop- 
ment of any carefully sifted knowledge about the nature 
and causation of health and disease. or the main part 
our formal educational agencies were established either to 
transmit orthodox interpretations of sacred Scripture to 
coming generations, or te insure the mastery of the tools of 
knowledge — reading, writing, and arithmetic. As a conse- 
quence the school has been identified from the first with a 
tradition of naive faith in the perfection and finality of a 
Scripture which, as interpreted, fostered a pathological un- 
concern about health, promoted a morbid interest in other- 
worldliness, and in extreme cases even exalted the mortifica- 
tion of the flesh. We have therefore had no great popular 
institution whose clearly recognized function has been that 
of keeping social practice abreast of our knowledge about 
health and disease. 

This condition has been exaggerated somewhat, perhaps, 
because of the persistence in the popular mind of a certain 


204 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


fatalism with respect to disease and physical misfortune — 
a fatalism that disappears only on the higher levels of sophis- 
tication. Man is inclined to regard the visits of these un- 
welcome guests as occurring quite independently of his own 
bidding; there seems to be a psychological principle operat- 
ing which on the recovery of health banishes the memories 
of suffering: ““ Vows made in pain, ease will recant.”’ In the 
matter of health man is notoriously improvident. While 
most people recognize in their more thoughtful moments the 
fundamental importance of physical well-being, they are so 
absorbed in their immediate interests that they give little 
attention to the conservation of health until the processes 
of physical impairment are well advanced. Each is confi- 
dent that the adversity which has overtaken his neighbor 
is not stalking him. Members of the human species, though 
self-styled sapiens, are only a degree more subtle than the 
fur seal of the Pribilof Islands that watches with perfect 
composure the killing and skinning of his mates, even 
though all the facts in the case suggest that in another 
moment his own blood will be mingled with theirs. It is 
perhaps one of the ironies of fate that man appreciates 
health, the basic and greatest gift that life has to offer, only 
when he comes to sense its loss. 

Why must the school bear larger responsibilities in the 
promotion of health? Nevertheless there are many signs 
that indicate an awakening interest in the application of our 
available knowledge to the promotion of health and the pre- 
vention of disease. Our medical schools have received in- 
creased and even enthusiastic support during recent years; 
and much is being done through boards and departments of 
public heaith, great private foundations, life extension in- 
stitutes, insurance companies, industrial plants, libraries, 
newspapers, magazines, and a host of other agencies. Vari- 
ous organizations have waged aggressive warfare on tuber- 


HEALTH AND EDUCATION 205 


culosis, syphilis, typhoid, malaria, hookworm, cancer, and 
other diseases. Guarding the health of the people, our cities 
have their building laws and sanitary regulations, their play- 
grounds and public parks, their water and sewage systems, 
their quarantine rules and hospital facilities; and govern- 
ments have seen fit to control the sale of alcohol and nar- 
cotics and to regulate the manufacture and sale of foods. 

All of this work must continue, but it is the school, which 
touches the lives of the masses, that must bear an increas- 
ingly large share of the burden. No other agency reaches 
all classes without distinction. And since in a political 
democracy the efficiency of the public control of health and 
disease is a function of the entire population, no class can 
be ignored. The autocratic methods adopted and carried 
through by Gorgas in Panama cannot be repeated in our 
own Commonwealth. Unless the masses of the people 
are vitally interested in promoting health and combating 
disease, little can be done. 

Furthermore, if conditions are to be improved, this know]l- 
edge must not only be passed on to the people, but it must 
also be made a part of themselves through the formation of 
habits and the inculcation of ideals. In order to accomplish 
this result it is clear that the process of health education 
must begin during those early years of life which are char- 
acterized by a high degree of plasticity and suggestibility. 
The school alone is in a position to produce the desired re- 
sults. If the coming of a more healthful world is forced to 
depend on some other institution, it will be infinitely de- 
layed. This should not blind us, however, to the fact that 
even for the school this will be a difficult task. The inertia 
of old customs lies heavy, and the school can have the child 
for only a fraction of his life. The school, together with 
other educational agencies, must carry the home and the 
community along at least a portion of the read that it 


206 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


would take the younger generation. In time this institu- 
tion will come to be regarded as the agency through which 
society works into the lives of its members those truths 
about health and disease which its specialists discover. 

How may the school provide for the formation of health 
habits? If the school is to make any genuine and adequate 
contribution to the furtherance of health, it must set up 
three objectives which, while closely related and often over- 
lapping, merit separate attention. It must provide for the 
formation of health habits, the imparting of health informa- 
tion, and the development of a health conscience. The first 
of these is fundamental to the other two, for habits are the 
foundation on which the superstructure of life is erected. 
Habits determine disposition, they fix the objects of interest 
and attention, and they set the boundaries to a philosophy 
of life. 

From the moment the child enters the school, therefore, 
effort must be centered on his forming desirable habits in 
the fields of both personal and social hygiene. He must 
form correct habits of posture, diet, elimination, sex, exer- 
cise, rest, play, work, sleep, clothing, cleanliness, breathing, 
ventilation, and of guarding the health of others. Parallel- 
ing and supporting these habits, in which the physical 
aspect is prominent, must go habits of mind which tend to 
conserve rather than dissipate energy. Early in life the 
child should form the habits of avoiding worry, of banishing 
groundless fears, of frankly recognizing the limitations of 
his own powers, of refusing to seek in fantasy refuge from 
the demands of living, of taking the necessary time to do 
the work of the day, of facing the realities of life unafraid; 
he should form habits of patience and decision, of whole- 
hearted and courageous action, of serenity and happiness. 

In the school this process of habit formation will be greatly 
facilitated by providing environmental conditions that call 


HEALTH AND EDUCATION 207 


forth the desired reactions. All who come in contact with 
the child should possess these habits; the building should be 
clean and properly ventilated; work and play should take 
place under careful supervision; the equipment should not 
only make possible, but should also strongly encourage clean- 
liness and sanitary behavior; school lunches should serve to 
establish habits of diet; and school nurses, dentists, and 
_ physicians, 1n order to fix in the child the habit of consulting 
the specialist, should see to the regular correction of physical 
defects. The decisive character of the environmental factor 
deserves special emphasis, because the school in the past has 
been so highly artificial as to hinder the formation of the 
habits necessary to the promotion of health. We have often 
imparted knowledge of hygiene, and at the same time forced 
the formation of unhygienic habits. We must clearly recog- 
nize the indubitable fact that only as we train children in 
the ways of health will they actually prefer these ways to 
others. 

How may the school impart health information? Habits, 
however, as the term is usually understood, are not enough. 
They do not provide that elasticity in behavior which is es- 
sential to the continuous adaptation of the individual to a 
shifting environment. ‘These habits must be raised to the 
level of consciousness and made meaningful. The facts 
which lie back of them must be grasped, the basic principles 
must be understood. In a word, the individual must be in- 
formed, he must be made intelligent. Through definite in- 
struction those superstitions regarding health and disease 
which have come down to us from a pre-scientific age, and 
which grow luxuriantly in almost every stratum of the pop- 
ulation, must be eradicated. 

In the past we have fostered a disease consciousness, we 
have waged a defensive warfare, we have assumed that 
nothing is to be done until the disease appears, we have 


208 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


emphasized cure rather than prevention; in the future we 
must develop a health consciousness, we must wage an 
offensive warfare, we must consciously develop virile and 
resistant bodies, we must emphasize prevention rather than 
cure. ‘The men and women of the next generation must 
know that both health and disease have their causes, that 
these causes can be discovered and understood, and that 
through the application of knowledge the one can be pro- 
moted and the other prevented. Ready to rely upon them- 
selves wherever expedient, but prepared to call in the 
specialist when necessary, they must recognize both their 
powers and their limitations and avail themselves intelli- 
gently of the medical resources of the community. In days 
of health, through hygienic living and regular medical ex- 
amination, the approach of disease and physical impair- 
ment must be forestalled. The great desideratum is a new 
orientation with regard to this entire matter. The realiza- 
tion of this part of our program will entail the introduction 
into the formal curriculum of carefully selected and graded 
materials, designed to give to our children a sufficiently 
thorough understanding of the laws of health to serve as a 
guide to conduct. 

How may the school develop a health conscience? But 
habits and information, however valuable they may be, are 
not sufficient to the task. The school must imbue its pupils 
with a profound concern for the promotion of their own 
health and that of the community, and must inculcate an 
earnest desire to eliminate disease and defect and privation 
from the life of men. The individual must be given a 
health conscience, he must be made to display a will to 
health, he must be encouraged to develop a moving senti- 
ment for health. The very idea of health should arouse in 
the ordinary individual that emotional warmth which at- 
taches to every cherished interest of life. 


HEALTH AND EDUCATION 209 


The development of such a positive attitude towards 
health is possible only under the guidance of teachers who 
themselves possess it in full measure, who appreciate the 
significance of their work, and who grasp the meaning of the 
struggle of the race for a more abundant physical life. 
Under such instruction our children must enter imagina- 
tively into this age-long struggle of mankind, and thereby 
come to appreciate for themselves the worth of this portion 
of the human heritage. As in the past they have lived with 
the heroes of war and politics and finance, so in the future 
they must be made to live with those heroes who, in spite of 
discouragement and the most bitter opposition, have fought 
for the race the battles of medicine. Thus an increasing 
number of each generation may be induced to recognize and 
feel the obligation to carry forward the work of the past, 
and to enter enthusiastically into those great collective 
undertakings through which alone complete advantage can 
be taken of the discoveries of medical science. 

How must the school modify its program? The program 
here outlined, involving the threefold task of forming habits, 
imparting information, and developing a sense of obligation, 
calls for a radical departure from the program of the con- 
ventional school. In three respects in particular does the 
ordinary school fall short. In the first place, for reasons 
already given, it has shown but little concern about health. 
Only in recent years have there been any thoroughgoing 
efforts to relate the work of the school to human need at 
this central point. In the second place, in those few instances 
where the school has embarked on an ambitious health 
program, there has been a tendency to place the great em- 
phasis on the acquisition of information and to disregard 
the other and equally important elements of the program. 
The school has been led to assume a naive faith in the com- 

plete efficacy of knowledge to regenerate the individual and 


210 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


society. While this view contains much truth, if considered 
with reference to great stretches of time, it is a relatively 
sterile educational doctrine. In the third place, the occa- 
sional school that has recognized these different aspects of 
the educative process has tended to make the mistake of 
erecting artificial barriers between them and of setting the 
school off from the rest of life. To be truly effective the 
instruction of the special institution must be made to influ- 
ence the behavior of boys and girls as they mature and take 
their places in the ranks of the Great Society. If formal 
education is to function, it must be made an integral part of 
the process of living; for habits, information, and interests 
are given vitality and unity only as the forces of life flow 
through them. <A more healthful world is possible; but, if 
the school is to have any large share in giving it birth, it 
must establish contacts with the world of the present and 
contribute to the making of those changes which bring into 
being the world of the future. 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


1. Show how man’s instinctive equipment is utterly inadequate to pro- 
mote health and combat the more serious causes of disease. 

2. Justify Herbert Spencer’s statement: ‘‘To be a good animal is the 
first requisite to success in life, and to be a nation of good animals 
is the first condition to national prosperity.” 

8. To what extent has the dissemination of knowledge about health and 
disease been hindered by the medical profession in the guarding of its 
vested interests? 

4. What is the probable effect on the elimination of the unfit of the 
advance in medical and surgical skill and knowledge? 

5. Which of the following factors has been most important in placing 
responsibility for health instruction on the school: (1) the decline of 
other institutions, such as the home; (2) the increase of medical 
knowledge; (3) the change in attitude towards health and disease; 
(4) the change in the conception of education? 

6. What opportunities and obligations for the promotion of health does 
the development of compulsory education automatically create? 

7. In addition to the formal health instruction of the school, how can 


10. 


11% 


13: 


14. 


HEALTH AND EDUCATION 211 


this institution codperate with other agencies concerned with the 
promotion of health? 


. How do the authorities of our colleges justify the relative absence 


of health instruction in their institutions? 


. From the standpoint of the promotion of health, list the advantages 


and disadvantages resident in urban and rural communities. How 
should these differences affect the school program? 

To what extent is a school board justified in overriding the opinions 
of minorities in enforcing various health measures, such as vaccina- 
tion, the Schick test for diphtheria, and medical inspection? 

Why is there such irrational dread of consulting a physician, visiting 
a medical clinic, or going to a hospital? How could specific instruc- 


- tion in the schools deal with this situation? 
12. 


Explain the extraordinary expenditure by the American people on 
quack medicines and fake remedies. What can the school do to meet 
this condition? ° 
What methods are or may be used in the school for the development 
of a health conscience? 

In the formation of health habits, the imparting of information about 
health, and the development of a health conscience, show the con- 
tribution of each of the following: academic instruction in hygiene, 
gymnastics, sports, medical inspection and correction of defects, 
school lunches, open-air classes, and nutrition classes. 


PROBLEM 13 


HOW MAY EDUCATION PROMOTE THE FAMILY 
LIFE? 


Why is the family the basic social institution? — How has the function of 
the family changed? — What are the primary functions of the modern 
family? — What is the trend of the modern family? — What educational 
problem is presented by modern family life? — Shall education recognize 
an evolving family institution? — What forces in modern society foster an 
unnatural sex life? —Is the family safeguarding the biological inheritance? — 
Are parents equipped to care for their children? — Can science replace 
taboo? — Should the school assume responsibility for sex instruction? — 
What should be the educational program? 

Why is the family the basic social institution? Through the 
family the race has achieved civilization; through the home 
the individual finds his way into the complex world of the 
present. The family is the most ancient of human institu- 
tions, and is found to-day in some form among all peoples. 
It is the only self-perpetuating institution, and is perhaps’ 
rooted more firmly in the original nature of man than any 
other. Although the particular form the family takes is 
apparently dependent in large measure on circumstance, 
man’s basic instincts drive him into some sort of family 
relationship. No other institution has been so closely iden- 
tified with the interests and welfare of mankind during its 
long upward struggle. 

Developing about the helpless infant, the family has fos- 
tered those social tendencies and virtues which have led to 
the partial substitution within a limited field of the prin- 
ciple of co6peration and mutual aid for the harsher principle 
of competition and strife. It has consequently furnished 
the pattern for the expression of our highest ethical and 
religious conceptions. ‘The prophet, in his search for the 


FAMILY LIFE AND EDUCATION org 


ideal that should govern the relations between God and man 
and between man and man, has been able to do no better 
than point to the family and apotheosize the relations 
generated there. The Fatherhood of God and the Brother- 
hood of Man are two conceptions that make a universal 
appeal to the conscience of mankind. About the family 
cluster the tenderest of human sentiments, and all peoples 
guard with jealous solicitude the particular form of the in- 
stitution which they have inherited. 

How has the function of the family changed? The primi- 
tive family was an undifferentiated institution through 
which were performed all the functions necessary to the race, 
and in which was contained the whole of social life. In the 
patriarchal family of our own early ancestors the father was 
the priest, the governor, the warrior, and the hunter, while 
the mother was the nurse, the teacher, the agriculturalist, 
and the manufacturer. ‘The children as they gained 
strength assumed the tasks appropriate to the sex. But, as 
time passed, the family expanded into larger kinship groups; 
the simple processes of savage life increased in scope and 
complexity; and an amorphous social group gradually be- 
came differentiated into definite forms and structures. 

Without important interruption this process has con- 
tinued until the family to-day subsumes only a small por- 
tion of society, and carries on but a fraction of the functions 
for which it was originally responsible. In one important 
realm after another the authority of the family has relaxed; 
it has given ground to the church, the state, the factory, the 
school, the hospital, and the theater; and function after 
function has been surrendered to some special agency. The 
consequence of this contraction of the family dominion is 
that the family has evolved from a very generalized insti- 
tution into one that is highly specialized. During recent 
generations this change has proceeded so rapidly that its 


214 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


stability has been greatly impaired. Much of the founda- 
tion on which the family rested in times past has been car- 
ried away. On account of the weakened hold of the family 
on the individual, and because of its own altered and uncer- 
tain status, some definite educational effort must be directed 
to the task of fitting this institution for the effective per- 
formance of its functions. 

What are the primary functions of the modern family? 
While the family continues to make vital contributions to 
the economic life, especially in the field of consumption, its 
work has been largely reduced to the central and basic func- 
tion of generating and nurturing the race. This function, 
which is second only to the preservation of the life of the in- 
dividual, presents a threefold aspect. 

In the first place, the modern family provides for the ex- 
pression of the sex impulses, the normal and controlled 
functioning of which is an important part of the individual’s 
life. Of course, it is assumed that the physical union of the 
sexes, though of basic importance, does not constitute the 
whole of a balanced sex experience. With the development 
of civilization and the wide adoption of monogamy, the 
psychic union, involving both the sexually complementary 
elements and others of a non-sexual character, has become 
increasingly significant. 

In the second place, the family is the socially recognized 
agency for bringing children into the world. Without 
doubt, this biological function is the most important one 
fulfilled by the family. Since the character of the germ 
plasm of a race is apparently largely determined, from gen- 
eration to generation, by the number and quality of children 
born into the world; to the family is entrusted the heavy 
responsibility of guarding the most precious resource of any 
people — its biological inheritance. 

In the third place, the family remains to-day the most 


FAMILY LIFE AND EDUCATION Q15 


important agency for the care of children during their earli- 
est and most impressionable years. Its functions here are 
both nutritive and educative. It is charged with practically 
sole responsibility for the physical and mental growth of the 
child during the first six years of life. If the child is hungry, 
the family feeds it; if the child is thirsty, the family gives it 
drink; if the child is weary, the family gives it rest; if the 
child questions, the family supplies the answer. And very 
early the family brings the child into contact with the life of 
the Great Society. These three functions are so vital to 
both individual and social welfare that no society which 
values its own prosperity can afford to neglect them. We 
shall, therefore, after considering the present condition of 
the American family, pass to the task of evaluating it from 
the standpoint of its success in performing each of these 
separate functions. 

What is the trend of the modern family? The most super- 
ficial observation of the situation to-day reveals the fact 
that in the United States the family is undergoing a process 
of reorganization, if not of disintegration. It is clearly no 
longer the fixed and stable institution of a few generations 
ago. The divorce rate has mounted so rapidly during the 
last half-century that divorce and remarriage have become 
the most common occurrences. In the proportion of mar- 
riages thus dissolved the United States, having passed Japan, 
its only competitor, during the last decade, exceeds to-day 
not only the Christian world, but the non-Christian world 
as well. At least one marriage in every eight ends in the 
divorce courts, and in some communities the number of 
divorces in a single year approximates the number of mar- 
riages. Moreover, divorce is by no means a complete 
measure of the extent of maladjustment within the family. 

Owing to the operation of a wide variety of forces, some 
of which go to the heart of the Great Society, the essentially 


216 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


patriarchal family of a hundred years ago 1s rapidly passing 
away, and is apparently being replaced by an institution 
with less centralization of authority. In the social mind 
there has been a gradual reappraisal of the relative values to 
be assigned to the several functions performed by the family. 
This reappraisal has tended to recognize the personal rights 
within the family group. 

What forces are changing family life? The causes of 
these changes are not difficult to discover. The coming of 
the factory system, taking the father and sometimes the 
mother out of the home throughout the working day, has 
practically destroyed the family as an economic unit in vast 
elements of the population; the development of transporta- 
tion and communication and the growth of cities have 
loosened the hold of the family and the community on the 
individual, and thus greatly weakened those forces which 
make for social control in primitive society; the rise of 
science has led to the shattering of so many time-honored 
customs and beliefs that not a few individuals have openly 
and actively questioned the sanctity of the family institu- 
tion itself; the wider and wider opening of the door of 
economic opportunity to women has freed many from the 
necessity of becoming housewives, and given themall an inde- 
pendence which was formerly lacking; the extension of the 
opportunities of higher education to women has made many 
intolerant of conditions that their grandmothers accepted as 
a necessary part of their lot; and the whole feminist move- 
ment, culminating for the moment in the political enfran- 
chisement of women and working towards the abolition of 
the double moral standard, seems to assure for woman a 
complete individual status. 

What educational problem is presented by modern family 
life? This is obviously no place to discuss at any length the 
problem that has been raised, except to point out that it is 


FAMILY LIFE AND EDUCATION 217 


essentially an educational one. We cannot, even should we 
desire to do so, go back to the patriarchal family of the pre- 
industrial world. We cannot discard our inventions, we 
cannot forget our science; in short, we cannot turn back the 
clock of human experience. But there should be little de- 
sire to return to the earlier family form with its ironclad 
conventions and its partial denial of the rights of personality 
to one half of the population. In spite of all the perversions 
that flow from diseased and impoverished minds, the sensa- 
tional excrescences that here and there find their way to the 
surface of our family life, and the narrowly selfish violation 
of the larger social interests on the part of misguided indi- 
viduals, the basic trend is clearly toward a relation based 
upon mutual consent rather than autocratic domination. 
This, of course, means that, just as in the fields of politics 
and economics we are endeavoring to solve problems that 
are much more complex and intricate than those faced by 
our forefathers in the eighteenth century, so in the realm of 
family relationships we are attempting a much more diffi- 
cult task than they encountered in their age. 

The real tragedy, therefore, does not consist in the do- 
mestic scandal, reports of which perpetually crowd the col- 
umns of our newspapers, but rather in that blindness with 
which modern society strives for a more wholesome type of 
family relation. Driven in this realm by the most powerful 
impulses, and relying almost wholly on the primitive and 
wasteful processes of trial and error, our population, while 
struggling to make its adjustments to the present, stumbles 
on in search of a better world. This blindness of organized 
society is only equaled by that of the youth who, caught in 
the grip of passion and guided by no foresight of conse- 
quences, lays the foundations of his family and marks the 
boundaries of his career. The nature of the educational 
task, revealed by the existing situation, is manifest. So- 


218 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


ciety must see to it that every individual is equipped for the 
discharge of those responsibilities which he assumes when he 
enters into the family relation; responsibilities which can- 
not without disadvantage be delegated either directly or 
indirectly to the group. 

Shall education recognize an evolving family institution? 
In carrying out the program necessary to the accomplish- 
ment of this educational task the mistake of postulating a 
static social order must be avoided. Peculiarly needful is 
the sounding of this word of caution, because there is al- 
ways serious temptation, when thinking of the family or any 
institution so vitally concerned with human interests, to 
assume the finality of the existing arrangement. Except in 
the most general way, just what form the family will or 
should take in a future generation defies prediction. ‘The 
one certainty is that, if the life of society is to continue, cer- 
tain functions must be performed. Provided these func- 
tions are well cared for, the particular social structure which 
is set apart for their discharge is in the main a matter n5 
indifference. 

The family, as we have already observed, has rendered 
many services in the past which it no longer performs, and, 
possibly, it should not carry the entire burden which it bears 
to-day. Many of our domestic troubles, in fact, may be 
traced to lack of harmony among the three functions for 
which it 1s responsible. There are points of genuine con- 
flict; but, so long as the family bears this threefold responsi- 
bility, its purposes should be achieved as well as clashing 
interests permit; and, where conflict is unavoidable, the less 
important should be sacrificed. ‘This means that each gen- 
eration, while trained to discharge these functions through 
the family institution as it is, must receive that wider equip- 
ment which will make possible the gradual and intelligent 
modification of present practice in the direction of a more 


FAMILY LIFE AND EDUCATION 219 


wholesome family relation. Since it is impossible to-day to 
retire into the sanctified defenses of sex and family taboos 
of earlier generations, these facts must be frankly recog- 
nized in the formulation of any educational policy. 

What forces in modern society tend to foster an unnatural 
sex life? We are now in a position to proceed to the evalua- 
tion of the American family from the standpoint of its suc- 
cess in providing for the temperate expression of the sex 
impulses, in guarding the biological inheritance of our people, 
and in caring for the needs of children. Mankind possesses 
no impulse, with the exception of the desire for food itself, 
which is more imperious than that of sex. Provision for 
its adequate and temperate expression is therefore a neces- 
sary concern of every people. The development of civiliza- 
tion with its complexities and artificialities has tended to 
promote, for a large section of the population, an unnatural 
sex life. The period of social infancy has been greatly 
lengthened, while the period of biological infancy has suf- 
fered relatively no change. In other words, while legitimate 
exercise of the sex functions is postponed for the majority of 
the population until the time of marriage, in the middle 
twenties, these functions mature in the early teens. For 
many, in fact, the opportunity of giving them direct expres- 
sion is deferred to a much later period, and to others it is 
denied altogether. Owing to the relative stabilization of the 
food supply and the practical independence of climatic 
changes, the problem is further complicated by the substitu- 
tion, in the case of the human species, of a more or less con- 
tinuous sexual interest for the condition of periodic or sea- 
sonal sexual excitation which characterizes the functioning 
of this impulse in the lower forms of life. 

Furthermore, our economic system, since it includes many 
occupations of a casual nature that require those engaging 
in them to live roving and homeless lives, denies to many in- 


220 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


dividuals the satisfactions of normal family life. ‘This body 
of shifting and migratory ne’er-do-wells, constantly re- 
cruited from unadjusted youth as well as the unemployed 
and unsuccessful, can be numbered only by the hundreds of 
thousands. In addition to these educational and economic 
unfortunates there are many persons engaged in commerce, 
transportation, and professional service for whom the de- 
mands of the occupation render impossible a settled family 
life. At the upper extreme of the social scale is another 
group, small in numbers, but influential in setting the stand- 
ards of social conduct, and drawn from the classes of leisure 
and wealth, whose lives reveal an abnormal exaggeration of 
the sex interest. 

To be properly understood and evaluated all of these 
facts must be projected upon that complex social back- 
ground created by modern civilization. There is to-day an 
unnatural stimulation to sexual excitement caused by the 
wide and intimate contacts between the sexes which take 
place continually in every center of population, as men and 
women daily perform the tasks of the Great Society in office, 
shop, and factory. ‘The congestion of population in many 
quarters of our larger cities so narrows the living accommo- 
dations that family is no longer segregated from family, 
normal home life is rendered impossible, and the ordinary 
physical barriers which separate the sexes are destroyed. 
Out of this situation the development of loose and perverted 
sex habits 1s certain; and unnatural attractions between 
child and parent, which may create serious conflicts within 
the self, are often set up. Moreover, the satisfaction of 
civic, recreational, and even religious interests bring the 
sexes together in close association. These contacts, oc- 
curring for the most part between comparative strangers, 
add to the relationships of the primitive community an ele- 
ment of novelty and adventure. All of these associations, 


FAMILY LIFE AND EDUCATION 221 


too, take place quite outside the range of those forces which 
made for social control in the smaller societies of the past. 

How is this problem aggravated by an ascetic tradition? 
This entire situation is greatly aggravated by the persistence 
of an attitude toward the sex function which makes it ex- 
tremely difficult to arrive at an enlightened solution of any 
problem in which this function is nvolved. One is reminded 
of the observation of Samuel Butler: 


Mankind has ever been ready to discuss matters in the inverse 
ratio of their importance, so that the more closely a question is 
felt to touch the heart of all of us, the more incumbent it is con- 
sidered upon prudent people to profess that it does not exist, to 
frown it down, to tell it to hold its tongue, to maintain that it 
has long been finally settled so that there is now no question con- 
cerning it. 


We have a tradition that exalts celibacy and regards the 
sex impulse as essentially unholy, and therefore outside the 
pale of intelligent discussion. With this ascetic tradition, 
which in spite of the passage of centuries still receives the 
sanction of social respectability, the actual practice of the 
vast majority of men and women is necessarily out of har- 
mony. ‘This gives rise to violent conflicts within the self, 
puts a premium upon hypocritical behavior, and dissipates 
the energies of the individual. The negative attitude to- 
ward sex receives support from vocal opinion expressed and 
legislation enacted by individuals who, for the most part, 
are either past the age of maximum sex interest or have 
been denied normal sex experience. 

It is not surprising, therefore, that the pathology of sex is 
attracting an increasing amount of attention from those in- 
terested in social and educational problems. Perhaps the 
most spectacular product of this unnatural sex life is prosti- 
tution, with its degradation of character and its accompani- 
ment of venereal diseases. The spread of these highly 


229 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


malignant affections, with their long train of misery and 
suffering, has been the object of much concern in recent 
years. That they can be controlled and stamped out, if 
society cares to set itself seriously to the task, is certain; but 
this will involve a parting with our tradition of sex taboo 
and the careful and open consideration of the probiem in all 
of its aspects. Also, as a result of illicit sex relations under 
our existing legal and social system, children enter the world 
with the stamp of shame and inferiority ineffaceably placed 
upon them. ‘This dwarfing of personality at the source, 
this denial to individuals of the elementary rights of birth, 
is one of the most tragic consequences of our refusal to deal 
frankly and intelligently with matters of sex. 

But prostitution, venereal disease, and illegitimacy are 
not the only fruits of our failure to grapple with this prob- 
lem. Attempts to suppress violently and completely such 
a powerful impulse are certain in many cases to lead either 
to perverted sex habits or to the direction of the impulse into 
subterranean channels, there to inhibit and warp the devel- 
opment of character. From this source the ranks of the in- 
competent and the neurasthenic are recruited. One of our 
larger educational tasks, therefore, is to equip the members 
of the coming generation to view with clear and undistorted 
vision the function of sex, and to recognize the fundamental 
role which it necessarily plays in the lives of men and women. 
If society is to be so organized as to provide for this impulse 
normal and legitimate expression, or adequate sublimation, 
such an understanding is necessary. 

Are the physical aspects of sex overstressed in modern 
society? Continuing our discussion of the sexual life, we 
should make the explicit statement at this point that there | 
must be no disposition to place exclusive emphasis on the 
physical aspects of sex. What has just been said, while ap- 
pearing to apply more especially to the impulse toward 


FAMILY LIFE AND EDUCATION 223 


physical union, has direct bearing on the entire scope of sex 
experience. The physical act is the core about which may 
develop the complete union of man and woman. In this 
union the contribution of the one is complementary to that 
of the other. One of the tragedies of prostitution is its re- 
duction of sex life to its barest physical dimensions, and the 
denial to many individuals of that richer psychical life 
which is the possible product of sexual union. Unfortu- 
nately, after the first bloom of mating has passed away, in 
much of our family life, the psychical is made so subsidiary 
to the physical that this relationship comes to bear a re- 
semblance to prostitution. 

Quite unwittingly, through our policy of suppression and 
taboo, we have identified the sex impulse almost exclusively 
with its physical expression. ‘Then we become alarmed 
when young men and women, drawn into the marriage 
bond by this primary urge of sex and an ephemeral physical 
attraction, awake to the slender basis of their union and 
seek fulfillment elsewhere. Clearly the family relationships 
should be established on the broadest possible foundation, 
and their exceptional potentialities for enriching the life of 
the individual should be more fully realized. Since life is 
becoming mechanized and depersonalized in so many realms, 
the home should seek especially to conserve and cultivate its 
primary emphasis on personal values. Every individual, 
regardless of his rating in other directions, can make a 
unique contribution in the cultivation of human relations. 
Through the family he should find in its highest form the 
opportunity of developing this capacity for companion- 
ship. 

Is the family safeguarding the biological inheritance? 
Having appraised the family from the standpoint of its 
efficiency in the performance of the first of its three func- 
tions, namely, that of providing for the expression of the sex 


224 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


impulses, we come now to a consideration of the bearing of 
the family on the most important concern of any race, the 
conservation of the biological inheritance. In comparison 
with the guarding of this basic possession, most of the other 
tasks of society are of secondary importance. In this in- 
heritance are the potentialities of the race. If they are lost, 
they are probably gone forever; while, if they are not fully 
utilized in any single generation, a people merely fails to 
realize its possibilities. Provided the talent of our people is 
conserved, we can perhaps look with equanimity on the ex- 
haustion of our mineral resources, the depletion of our 
forests, and even the impoverishment of our soil at some 
distant time; for then we could expect a high order of in- 
telligence to discover and invent substitutes to take the 
place of these important natural resources. Obviously, 
therefore, if there is a shred of evidence to indicate that this 
basic possession is suffering the least impairment, corrective 
measures, in so far as they lie within our knowledge and 
power, are imperative. 

While it is not possible to speak with absolute assurance 
on this matter, because of the limitations of our knowledge 
of the forces of heredity and the facts of social life, there is 
reason for believing that we are losing from our stock some 
of its most talented and vigorous strains. Various influ- 
ences are at work in the modern world that run directly. 
counter to natural selection, and which tend to perpetuate 
the weak and incompetent. Our charitable institutions and 
the medical art enable many individuals to survive and 
propagate their kind who in a harsher age would have per- 
ished without offspring. Many thoughtful students of the 
question have maintained that the total effect of modern 
war on a race can only be dysgenic, since the most capable 
and virile men, being sent into battle, are destroyed before 
becoming parents. 


FAMILY LIFE AND EDUCATION Q25 


What is the probable effect of the differential birth rate 
on the biological inheritance? ‘The phenomenon, however, 
which concerns us chiefly here is the differential-birth rate. 
During the last century, one of the most significant tenden- 
cies In western civilization has been the decrease in the num- 
ber of children per family — a decrease to be traced to the 
desire on the part of many elements of the population to 
maiatain a higher standard of living, and to the wide dis- 
semination of knowledge of ways and means of birth control. 
Children are no longer an economic asset, and the parental 
instincts may receive adequate expression through the 
lavishing of affection on a small number of offspring. Hence 
ambitious and foresighted parents, in order to provide their 
children amply with the comforts, conveniences, and oppor- 
tunities of life, consciously limit the number of their chil- 
dren. As a consequence this decrease of the birth rate has 
not affected all classes alike. On the contrary, as might be 
expected, it has shown itself particularly in the more in- 
telligent and gifted portion of the population. Thus is re- 
versed the condition that characterized the race in primitive 
times. Then, through the competition for sexual satisfac- 
tions and in the absence of any effective efforts to limit 
births, the very strains that are to-day hardly reproducing 
themselves probably appeared in numerous offspring. 
Moreover, the appearance of the differential birth rate in a 
society such as ours, in which individuals of talent born into 
the lower ranks of society are able to rise through their own 
efforts into the higher, is especially dangerous. These 
superior individuals, on entering the middle classes, tend to 
limit the number of their offspring and thus reduce their 
proportional representation in the population. If this con. 
tinues from generation to generation, there is reason for be- 
lieving that we shall gradually lose from our population 
those elements that achieve success in the fields of finance, 
politics, and intellectual accomplishment. 


226 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


The conclusion, however, to be drawn from this analysis 
is not that we are advocating a general increase in the birth 
rate, a return to the conditions of a century ago when the 
only restraint placed on the coming of children was the 
natural one of sexual impotence or sterility. Rather should 
we desire fewer children from those who have many and 
more from those who have few. Let there be no misunder- 
standing here. An uncontrolled birth rate, under modern 
conditions of living, can only mean misery and want for a 
large section of the population. It would but contribute to 
the perpetuation of poverty, disease, and war. The thesis 
that, under the existing condition of economic efficiency, 
the total population of the earth is too large to be comfort- 
ably maintained, could be easily defended. The need is for 
an understanding on the part of all members of society of 
the nature of sex, and the laws of heredity. As man has 
mastered other forces of nature he must learn to control, in 
his own interests, the forces of human reproduction. 

Are parents equipped to care for their children? The 
third important function performed by the family is that of 
caring for the child. In the minds of most people this is 
naturally regarded as its most valuable contribution to the 
life of society. But it is patent that for rendering efficient 
service here the great majority of parents are very inade- 
quately equipped. We have proceeded on the assumption 
that an unenlightened and therefore ignorant girl, on giving 
birth to a child, immediately and mysteriously is endowed 
with sufficient knowledge not only to take care of its physi- 
cal wants, but also to guide its mental and moral develop- 
ment. As a niatter of fact, about the only legitimate ex- 
pectation is that this young mother will love her child and 
will want to care for it properly. No more can be expected 
from the maternal impulses, and in many individual 
mothers the native strength of these impulses is not great. 


FAMILY LIFE AND EDUCATION 227 


The case of the young father is somewhat more disconcert- 
ing, since a corresponding natural impulse of equal strength 
cannot be postulated. 

Are the physical needs of children cared for? Among the 
masses of the population, ignorance regarding the care of 
infants during both the ante- and postnatal periods is al- 
most incredible. Perhaps in no other field so vital to the 
welfare of the race does superstition of the darkest type 
come so near to reigning supreme. Old wives’ tales, 
credulously passed from mouth to mouth, savor of the 
absurd magic of primitive peoples. In every community 
there are numerous busybodies, dominated by a morbid 
interest in all matters pertaining to sex and childbirth, who 
insure the perpetual circulation of false and unscientific 
notions about the care of infants. Principles of feeding are 
not infrequently derived from the food habits of adults, and 
the simplest laws of hygiene receive no recognition. 

The importance of the application of scientific knowledge 
to the care of children is already recognized by those fortu- 
nate classes capable of securing expert service. The differ- 
ences in the infant mortality rate at the various levels of 
society give some indication of the appalling waste of human 
life at this period. Investigations in America have revealed 
an infant-mortality rate of 240 per 1000 among the very 
poor, in contrast with a rate of but 50 or less among the 
well-to-do in the same community. For the entire Registra- 
tion Area of the United States, the lowest rate thus far at- 
tained is 76, while in New Zealand, in 1920, this figure 
dropped below 50, and in certain communities in our own 
country a rate of less than 40 has been reached. If the 
standards achieved by certain classes and communities here, 
and by all classes and communities in certain other coun- 
tries are generally attainable, this means that from one 
third’ to one half of the infant deaths in America are pre- 


228 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


ventable. Furthermore, vital statistics show that, except- 
ing the period of extreme old age, the first year is by far the 
most precarious period of life. Regarding the physical care 
of children, of which sickness and mortality constitute a 
relatively accurate measure, the mothers and fathers of the 
present have but little effective knowledge. 

Are the psychical needs of children cared for? In minis- 
tering to the psychological needs of their charges, in pro- 
viding the environment which gives the earliest and most 
important direction to the development of character and 
personality, the shortcomings of parents are of a yet more 
blighting nature. We have no means of knowing, with any 
degree of accuracy, how many individuals carry through 
life mental and moral scars which may be traced directly to 
the unwise but well-meant treatment of ignorant parents; 
but we may be fairly certain that mental ailments and in- 
juries are as frequent as those in the physical realm. When 
one considers the enormous potency of the educational in- 
fluences of early years, one can only view with a heavy 
heart the intellectual, sesthetic, and moral limitations of the 
average home. At seven years of age, what a gigantic task 
the child brings to the school! How thorough must be the 
short period of formal education, if the accumulated errors 
committed in the days of infancy are to be effaced! Espe- 
cially is there grave danger that the child will have to pay a 
costly price for that psychological friction generated by 
those domestic quarrels and differences which appear so 
frequently in the modern family. As one realizes the ig- 
norance of the great majority of parents, and their totally 
inadequate equipment for the care of children, one under- 
stands why the greater evils of society persist so stubbornly 
from one generation to another, and wonders if too great a 
price is not being paid for the maintenance of the primitive 
family circle. | 


FAMILY LIFE AND EDUCATION 229 


Can science replace taboo? We have surveyed the pres- 
ent situation, and have found much evidence of incomplete 
and unsatisfactory functioning on the part of the American 
family. Although the future of the race is more directly 
dependent on the family than on any other institution, its 
performance of each of its three primary functions leaves 
much to be desired. The improper functioning of the sex 
impulses causes both mental and physical diseases, the grad- 
ual dissipation of our biological inheritance is probably occur- 
ring, and the welfare of children is often sacrificed by the 
ignorance and neglect of parents. If this condition is to be im- 
proved, the entire question of sex and family relations must 
be approached in a new spirit. A re-orientation of mind and 
heart is required. We have tried the method of ignorance, 
we have tried the method of repression, we have tried the 
method of taboo — all have failed. During recent years 
the work of psychologists has shown the unwisdom of this 
negative policy, the policy of repression, in dealing with any 
powerful impulse. Experience suggests that the taboo is 
no safer guide in morals than it has proved to be in medicine 
and dietetics. There is every reason for believing that the one 
method which has proved especially fruitful to man in his ef- 
forts to solve other problems will serve him here. This is the 
method of the careful collection and critical examination of 
the available facts —the method of intelligence. But the re- 
moval of the taboo is but the beginning. Man does not pos- 
sess an inborn equipment that is at all adequate to guide him 
in the exercise of the sex impulses, in the conservation of the 
biological inheritance, and in the nurture and care of chil- 
dren in the modern world. The needs of the situation neces- 
sitate the adoption of a constructive educational program. 

Should the school assume responsibility for sex instruc- 
tion? Since there is no other institution that reaches all 
classes of the population, the school will have to assume the 


230 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


major educational obligation. Some have suggested that 
the responsibility for this work should rest on the home; 
but it is only necessary to mention this suggestion in the 
light of the earlier analysis to realize its complete absurdity. 
If the home were functioning perfectly to-day this method 
would be successful, for the child would in most cases ac- 
quire the requisite habits, knowledges, and ideals, either 
incidentally or under the direct tuition of the parents. But 
since the family is not functioning properly, it clearly 
does not hold within itself the power necessary to its own 
regeneration. Others have maintained that this is the 
function of the church; but the authority of any church, or 
of all churches combined, is far from universal. Moreover, 
as an educational institution, the church is pitifully ineffec- 
tive to-day, and it must bear no small portion of the re- 
sponsibility for the perpetuation of the sexual taboo. Yet 
there are some phases of the problem which, under ideal 
conditions, could be solved more satisfactorily by the 
church than by the school. The latter lacks the ceremonial 
atmosphere possessed by the church, an atmosphere which is 
eminently favorable to the inculcation of ideals. Never- 
theless the fact remains that, however great may be the 
contribution of the church or any other institution, a vig- 
orous treatment of this question will require the codperation 
and best energies of the school. 

Is the school cognizant of the need? At present the 
program in operation in the average school is of little value. 
Over sixty years ago Herbert Spencer, commenting on the 
absence of any attention to this important division of 
human activities in the English schools of his day, made the 
following observation: ! 


If by some strange chance not a vestige of us descfnded to the 
remote future save a pile of our school books or some college 





1 Spencer, Herbert: Education, p 40. 


FAMILY LIFE AND EDUCATION 931 


examination papers, we may imagine how puzzled an antiquary 
of the period would be in finding in them no indication that the 
learners were ever likely to be parents. ‘“‘This must have been the 
curriculum for their celibates,” we may fancy him concluding. 
“I perceive here an elaborate preparation for many things: espe- 
cially for reading the books of extinct nations and of co-existing 
nations (from which indeed it seems clear that these people had 
very little worth reading in their own tongue), but I find no refer- 
ence whatever to the bringing up of children. They could not 
have been so absurd as to omit all training for this gravest of 
responsibilities. Evidently then, this was the school course of 
one of their monastic orders.” 


While the school of to-day shows some advance over that of 
Spencer’s time, the improvement is by no means commen- 
surate either with the need or with the growth of knowledge. 
The present program in those schools where a program may 
be said to exist is characterized either by sentimentalism, 
or by great timidity and lack of vigor. 

What should be the educational program? In attacking 
this problem those principles should be followed which were 
outlined in the discussion of health. An adequate program 
must provide for habit formation, the acquiring of informa- 
tion, and the development of attitudes, interests, and ideals. 
Attention to sex hygiene, beginning in the first grade of the 
elementary school, should lead to the formation of correct 
sex habits. Ideally, this attention should be extended back 
to the earliest years of infancy. ‘The nature study and 
biology of the grades and the high school naturally lead to 
an understanding of the function of sex. Before the matur- 
ing of the reproductive functions the child should be given a 
healthy attitude toward these processes. He should be 
made to comprehend the fundamental réle of reproduction 
in the economy of nature, and to recognize it as the great 
creative force through which life is constantly renewed. 
Later he should be introduced to the more intricate and deli- 


232 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


cate problems that are involved in the expression and tem- 
perate control of the sex impulses. In the high school every 
child should be required to take sufficient work in biology to 
acquaint him with the forces of heredity. Here especially 
will it be necessary to inculcate ideals that will lead to an 
improvement of the racial stock, and to the adoption of a 
voluntary resolve by the individual to refuse, where feasible, 
to transmit or allow the transmission of mental or physical 
defect. We must instill into the youth the feeling of genuine 
obligation towards the coming generation. 

Finally, either in the later years of the high school or 
in continuation schools especially adapted to the purpose, 
courses of instruction must be organized that will fit young 
persons very definitely for the responsibilities of marriage 
and parenthood. ‘They must be made to recognize fully 
the obligations they assume, as well as the difficulties, dis- 
appointments, and even disillusionments that experience 
will in all probability bring. ‘They should be informed re- 
garding the physiology and psychology of sex and the sexual 
processes. While being taught to recognize the importance 
and naturalness of the purely physical attraction, they 
should know that a permanent union can hardly be formed 
on such a basis. In a word, as they launch themselves on 
one of the most difficult and momentous undertakings of 
life, they should receive all the aid that can be given them 
by a sympathetic and enlightened society. 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


1. What sociological problems of the first magnitude are raised by the 
biological fact that the urge which brings children into the world is 
in many cases not equalled by the tendencies to parental fosterage? 

2. What is the patriarchal family? Criticize this family from the 

standpoint of: (a) its democracy; (b) its educational possibilities. 

. How has the lengthening period of dependence in modern society, 

and the elevation of the standard of living, tended to reduce the 
number of offspring? 


eS) 


10. 


1. 


12. 


13. 


14. 


FAMILY LIFE AND EDUCATION 233 


. Show how tne large proportion of children from homes with foreign 


traditions has required the school to perform functions which are 
performed in most societies by the home. 


. What educational problems are created by the social forces which 


play upon the immigrant family on coming to this country? Contrast 
the foreign-speaking immigrant family with the English-speaking 
immigrant family. 


. In what respects is the typical rural family more primitive than 


the typical urban family? 


. Show how the taboo on sex has made the most elemental discussion of 


sex matters by parents with children practically impossible. 


. What is the original function of the taboo? How is a taboo created 


in the social mind? How may a taboo be broken? What would be 
the effect of the disappearance of the sex taboo? 


. Discuss the boarding school from the standpoint of the emotional 


and intellectual effects on: (a) the children; and (b) the parents. 
Discuss also the effects of the orphan asylum on children. 

What are the advantages and disadvantages of committing the edu- 
cation of children to the hands of those who have only a professional 
interest in them as individuals? 

What objections have been raised to giving practical and theoreticai 
instruction in child nurture to girls attending our secondary schools 
and colleges? 

How would you answer this argument: Since sex knowledge is 
peculiarly dynamic, it is highly undesirable and even dangerous to 
impart sex knowledge to children in the schools? 

Discuss the effects of coeducation on the sexes at: (a) the elementary 
school level; (b) the secondary school level; (c) the college level. 
What are the probable effects of the feminist movement on the care 
of children in the home? 


PROBLEM 14 


HOW MAY EDUCATION ORDER AND HUMANIZE THE 
ECONOMIC LIFE? 


Why does the economic life occupy a strategic place in society? — How 
in modern times has man transformed the economic life? — How have 
mechanical inventions modified social life? — How has education been 
influenced by these economic changes? — How is current economic educa- 
tion defective? — How may production be increased? — Does education 
foster an equitable distribution of economic goods? — Does education 
foster wise and temperate consumption? — Does education foster con- 
servation of natural resources? — Does education seek to humanize the 
economic life? —Is there a necessary conflict between economic and 
human values? — Can education infuse a new spirit into the economic life? 


Why does the economic life occupy a strategic place in 
society? Food, clothing, and shelter constitute the material 
basis of human life and culture. The development of 
civilization itself, with its finer flower of science, literature, 
and art, waits upon the solution of the elementary problems 
involved in securing these necessities. So universal, per- 
sistent, and compelling are these wants that in every age 
the great majority of men and women have spent the larger 
portion of their waking hours in efforts to satisfy them. 
Economic forces, therefore, lie at the root of much of human 
behavior. As savages wander from place to place in quest 
of food, so civilized peoples migrate from one country to 
another in search of higher wages; and as the former engage 
in deadly combat over hunting grounds and berry patches, 
so the latter wage world wars for markets and raw materials. 

The disposition of population over the earth to-day re- 
flects in large measure the beneficence or niggardliness of 
nature. ‘To the fertile regions man has ever tended; and in 
these fairer spots he has reared his great states and empires. 


ECONOMIC LIFE AND EDUCATION 235 


To-day, in spite of the pressure of population In many 
countries, there are vast and easily accessible areas which 
are practically uninhabited because they do not provide 
the necessary means of subsistence. In the modern world 
great cities grow up in certain places rather than in others, 
neither because these spots are regarded as beautiful nor yet 
because they are thought healthful, but because they prove 
to be well-situated for the promotion of the economic life. 
All human institutions, even religious ceremonies and ethi- 
cal codes, are profoundly influenced by the methods fol- 
lowed by a people in gaining a livelihood. Political parties 
usually represent great economic interests, and famous in- 
stitutions of learning may become powerful bulwarks for the 
defense of social classes in their enjoyment of special eco- 
nomic privilege. Because of the time and energy it requires, 
the very occupation in which an individual or group partici- 
pates is a powerful factor in determining the mental pat- 
tern and in shaping the philosophy of life. While the woof 
and dyes may be derived from other sources, the economic 
life is the warp of the social! order. 

How has man shown his economic superiority over the 
animal? Without clothing, artificial shelter, or tools, for 
ages man sought his food much as do the lower animals 
-to-day; and in his struggle for survival his superiority over 
them hung long in the balance. Through invention and 
discovery he has forged an endless variety of tools, and by 
means of machinery has harnessed the forces of nature; he 
has accumulated knowledge of innumerable industrial proc- 
esses, and has developed the highly differentiated occupa- 
tional life of modern society; he has domesticated plants and 
animals, and has even created new and more useful forms 
of each; and thus he has forced the earth to yield an ever 
increasing harvest of those material goods which satisfy his 
wants. So successful has he been in this respect that he has 


236 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


increased his numbers from a mere handful in some favored 
spot or Garden of Eden to approximately seventeen hun- 
dred millions dwelling in almost every land and climate. 
At the same time he has been so constantly adding to the 
number of his wants, and so refining his tastes, that he 
would almost prefer death to the barren and brutish life 
relished by his earliest ancestors. 

How in modern times has man transformed the economic 
life? During the last century and a half the economic life 
of the western world has been transformed by a series of 
remarkable inventions and the general application of science 
to the productive process. The essentially rural civiliza- 
tion which, following the fall of Rome, was slowly erected 
in the course of more than a thousand years on the ruins of 
that ancient Empire, is now rapidly passing away and is 
being superseded by a compact urban economy. A revolu- 
tion, more profound in its effects than any armed revolt that 
ever shook the foundations of a political State, has been 
achieved in the three realms of manufacture, agriculture, 
and communication. And these changes have been so 
radical and so unheralded that man finds himself in a new 
economic order without being altogether certain of the 
route he followed in his journey, or quite sure of where he is 
or whither he is tending. 

How has manufacture been transformed? Beginning in 
the textile industry in the last half of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, power-driven machinery, displacing human energy and 
the hand methods of an earlier age, has been introduced into 
practically every phase of manufacture. This change, 
while greatly increasing the productivity of labor and ena- 
bling one man to do the work of hundreds or even of thou- 
sands, has had other far-reaching social effects. It has 
produced the factory system, with its thousands of opera- 
tives and its minute division of labor; it has separated the 


~ ECONOMIC LIFE AND EDUCATION 237 


workman from his tools, and created the conflict between 
labor and capital; it has contributed to the growth of cities, 
with their great collective enterprises and their glaring ex- 
tremes of poverty and riches; it has with the seductive 
promise of easy and fabulous wealth, tempted men of 
strength to the grievous exploitation of their neighbors; it 
has developed the wage system, with its emphasis on 
pecuniary rewards and its dehumanization of work; it has 
exalted the acquisitive impulses, and given the color of 
commercialism to the entire social fabric. 

How has agriculture been transformed? In agriculture 
the changes have been only less thorough-going than in 
manufacture. Following the making of the first steel plow, 
in 1837, there have come in rapid succession the gang-plow, 
the harrow, the planter, the cultivator, the reaper, the 
threshing machine, and the automobile tractor. At the 
same time there has developed an applied science of agri- 
culture which has given man increased control over nature. 
As a consequence, much of the drudgery of farm life has 
disappeared, while one man with the assistance of modern 
machinery, power, and methods can do the work formerly 
done by ten. 

How have the means of communication been trans- 
formed? Neither the revolution in manufacture nor that 
in agriculture could have proceeded, however, without that 
series of brilliant inventions in transportation and com- 
munication which have bound country to city, nation to 
nation, and continent to continent. Thus has been made 
possible that division of labor and that degree of social 
integration characteristic of the modern world. Within a 
century man has developed rapid and effective means of 
travel by land, water, and air. In the early part of the 
nineteenth century steam power was successfully applied to 
motor vehicles and to navigation. Later came the trolley 


238 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


car and the automobile, with their dependence on electric- 
ity and the combustion of gases; and, in yet more recent 
times, have come the triumphs of aviation. The most 
striking inventions, however, have probably been made in 
the field of communication in its narrower aspects. With 
the advent of the telegraph in the second quarter of the 
nineteenth century, to be followed by the telephone, the 
phonograph, and the radio, both space and time have 
practically ceased to be conditioning factors in the trans- 
mission of thought. And its diffusion has been greatly 
facilitated by advances in the arts of printing and pho- 
tography. 

How have mechanical inventions modified social life? 
The life of to-day, and especially the economic life, may not 
be understood without constant reference to these inven- 
tions. Though satisfying some of man’s most ancient 
needs, they have nevertheless magnified others and even 
brought many new problems into existence. Because of 
them he finds himself in a great codperative society which is 
far removed from the small, isolated, and independent 
community of a half dozen generations ago. In the words 
of Robinson and Beard: 1 


These inventions explain the world in which we live, with its 
busy cities, its gigantic factories filled with complicated machinery, 
its commerce and vast fortunes, its trade unions and labor parties, 
its bewildering variety of plans for bettering the lot of the great 
mass of the people. The story of the substitution for the distaff 
of the marvelous spinning-machine with its swiftly flying fingers, 
of the development of the locomotive and the ocean steamer which 
bind together the uttermost parts of the earth, of the perfected 
press, producing a hundred thousand newspapers an hour, of the 
marvels of the telegraph and the telephone — this story of 
mechanical invention is in no way inferior in fascination and im- 











1 Robinson, J. H., and Beard, C. A.: Development of Modern Europe, vol. 
i,’ p, ole 


ECONOMIC LIFE AND EDUCATION 239 


portance to the more familiar history of kings, parliaments, wars, 
treaties, and constitutions. 


How have these inventions ushered in an age of material 
abundance? ‘The advantages of this new society in pro- 
moting the economic life are many and obvious. As one of 
Ferrero’s characters exclaims! in defending this new civil- 
ization: 

What has man dreamed of since the beginning of time but 
the Earthly Paradise, the Promised Land, the Garden of the 
Hesperides, the Age of Gold, Arabia Felix, one and the same 
thing under different names: the Empire of Nature and Abun- 
dance? And has not the great myth, the wild fantasy of a thou- 
sand years, at last taken form and shape in those enchanted 
lands (America) beyond the ocean? 


Through the employment of tools and machines the work 
of men is made more effective; through the utilization of 
mechanical power human energy is conserved; and through 
the division of labor many economies can be achieved. 
Consider for a moment what has been accomplished in the 
field of agricultural production. The labor required to pro- 
duce a bushel of wheat was reduced from three hours in 
1830 to ten minutes in 1896; and it has been estimated that 
fifty men, employing modern farm machinery and the new 
methods of agriculture, can do the work of five hundred 
peasants toiling under the conditions of the eighteenth cen- 
tury. The energies of the remaining four hundred and fifty 
are thus set free to engage in manufacture and commerce, 
and to produce that great variety of commodities found to- 
day in every village and city market. 

In the manufacture of goods the increased efficiency has 
been even more pronounced than in the raising of farm 
products. In the making of screws, to take a somewhat 
extreme illustration, the ratio of machine to hand produc- 

1 Ferrero, G.: Between the Old World and the New, pp. 98-99. 


240 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


tion is 4491 to 1. Through the use of mechanical power 
man is able to accomplish tasks that are utterly beyond his 
own unsupplemented efforts, tasks beside which those 
wonders of the ancient and primitive world, such as the 
pyramids and the hanging gardens, seem but the work of 
children. 

The development of the existing modes of transportation 
and communication has likewise saved much time and 
energy, and has greatly widened the scope of human opera- 
tions. ‘This advance is responsible for the growth of com- 
merce and man’s greater independence of the vicissitudes of 
time and place. The division of labor between one part of 
the world and another, and even between one part of a great 
factory and another, would not be possible in the absence 
of the locomotive, the steamship, the telegraph, and the 
telephone. The great plains States of our own Middle 
West, for example, could not confine themselves to the al- 
most exclusive raising of cereals if they were not connected 
by an efficient system of transportation with other sections 
of the world from which they could obtain, by exchange of 
their surplus of grain, the food, clothing, lumber, machinery, 
and luxuries required for the maintenance and enrichment 
of life. In like manner a great factory, covering several 
square miles of floor space and exhibiting an extraordinarily 
minute division of labor, could hardly be operated efficiently 
without some form of relatively instantaneous communica- 
tion through which the work of the whole may be constantly 
integrated. Efficient means of transportation and com- 
munication are as necessary to the life of a complex society 
as are the circulatory and nervous systems to the physical 
life of man. 

From this analysis it is clear that these inventions are 
among the finest of the many great gifts that have come 
from the mind and hand of genius. Here are revealed the 


ECONOMIC LIFE AND EDUCATION GAT 


possibilities of drafting intelligence into the service of com- 
mon men in the common undertakings of daily life, rather 
than into the service of kings and priests and aristocrats 
in their quarrels with one another and their struggles for 
domination. A rate of producing the necessities of life, of 
which the medizeval world could hardly have dreamed, has 
actually been achieved; while the experience of a century 
suggests that, if man but cares to bend his energies to the 
task, he can provide an abundance of the material goods 
of life to even the humblest member of society, and banish 
poverty and want from human affairs. 

How has education been influenced by these economic 
changes? ‘The development of this highly complex indus- 
trial society has made necessary the establishment of voca~ 
tional and professional schools of great variety and has even 
greatly modified the content and method of liberal educa- 
tion. The knowledge and technique which were generated 
by and adequate to the economic life of the Middle Ages 
have been refined and increased. The very preservation ot 
the inventions and processes which support the industrial 
society of to-day is wholly dependent on the effective trans- 
mission of this body of experience. There has grown up a 
host of highly specialized callings, quite unknown a few 
centuries ago, which demand more or less of formal educa- 
tion for their efficient execution. As a field of knowledge 
necessitating long and rigorous training, engineering in all 
of its many divisions has been added to the learned profes- 
sions; while the numerous managerial, commercial, and cler- 
ical occupations imply preparation of every degree of thor- 
oughness. Furthermore, the methods of training skilled 
artisans have changed with the changing order, and in the 
field of agriculture there has been gradually accumulating 
a vast amount of applied science with which the modern 
agriculturalist must be acquainted. 


QAR PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


Because of these numerous and insistent needs techno- 
logical schools appeared in the early part of the last century, 
and schools of collegiate and professional grade followed in 
many fields. The Federal Government, through the Mor- 
rill and subsequent acts, has promoted this movement by 
subsidizing state schools of agriculture and mechanic arts; 
and the great universities have added departments and 
colleges of engineering, commerce, journalism, and graduate 
schools of applied research. In the field of secondary edu- 
cation the ferment has likewise been working for a hundred 
years and more. Both the academy and the high school, in 
their origins, recognized the changing demands of the new 
order. More recently we have seen the establishment of 
business, trade, corporation, manual training, and other 
types of vocational schools. Within the conventional 
secondary school itself the program of studies has under- 
gone radical reorganization during the last generation; and 
numerous vocational curricula which point toward the 
clerical, commercial, industrial, agricultural, and household 
occupations have been introduced in rapid succession. 

How is current economic education defective? The pres- 
ent educational program, however, is a half-hearted and 
inadequate attempt to meet the needs of the situation. It is 
the product of the blind drive of necessity, rather than the 
result of an intelligent consideration of the principles in- 
volved. It is based in large measure on an incomplete and 
incorrect analysis of our economic life. It has centered too 
exclusively on vocational preparation in the narrow sense of 
the term; it has placed disproportionate emphasis on those 
highly specialized skills and knowledges which are peculiar 
to a particular calling. Assuming that the productive proc- 
ess alone constitutes the whole of the economic cycle, it has 
been too largely concerned with this division of the problem. 
Failing to recognize the full import of the very forces that 


ECONOMIC LIFE AND EDUCATION 243 


have brought it into being, it has tended to perpetuate an 
anachronistic individualism which is out of place in the 
modern world. ‘The present program lacks vision. Cur- 
rent practice in education does not reflect an understanding 
of the fact that every important industry is a great codpera- 
tive enterprise sustaining a host of intimate and interde- 
pendent relationships with other industries and with the 
larger society of which it isa part. The fact has been over- 
looked that the economic life itself is merely society at 
work, and not a self-generating process carried on in a 
vacuum. 

What should be the objective of economic education? 
The object of an adequate program of education must be 
an economic efficiency, balanced by a recognition of the 
broader and more permanent interests of society and tem- 
pered by an unequivocal exaltation of human over material 
values. Such a program must seek (1) to increase produc- 
tion; (2) to secure an equitable distribution of goods and 
services to the masses of the people; (3) to foster wise and 
temperate consumption of these benefits; (4) to conserve 
those basic natural resources on which the economic life 
depends; (5) to organize industry so that it will quicken 
rather than destroy the intellectual and moral life; and, 
finally, (6) to inject into industry a new spirit which will 
call forth the will to serve in place of the will to exploit. 
Society can afford to omit no one of these values from its 
educational program. To a brief consideration of each 
from the standpoint of the educational needs and principles 
involved we shall now pass. 

How may production be increased? Although the eco- 
nomic conquest of the North American continent in the 
course of a single century must be regarded as one of the 
greatest achievements of its kind in human history, it is 
well known to-day that the productive possibilities of our 


244, PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


people are far from realized. Vast quantities of human 
energy are being wastefully dissipated, and great stores are 
but waiting to be released. ‘The recent investigation of the 
Federated American Engineering Societies! showed in- 
dustry to be but fifty per cent efficient, when judged by no 
criterion of perfection but rather by attainments actually 
achieved in certain plants and at certain times. According 
to the findings of this study, production might possibly be 
doubled without the invention of any new devices or the 
discovery of any new processes. 

But the prevailing type of vocational education, even if 
greatly improved in quality, could hardly be expected to 
make any large contribution to the realization of this possi- 
bility. The customary program assumes that waste in in- 
dustry is due to defective acquisition of the narrower skills 
and knowledges; it assumes naively that, provided we train 
carpenters, compositors, engineers, farmers, machinists, 
salesmen, and weavers in these special aspects of their 
respective callings, economic efficiency will be achieved. 
But this assumption is faulty, for the reason, paradoxical as 
it may seem, that these narrower functions are the sine qua 
non for industrial participation. Consequently, they are 
certain to be acquired in one way or another — on the job, 
if not through some special educational agency. Obviously, 
increased efficiency is not to be secured by giving major at- 
tention to that type of training which is necessary if in- 
dustry is to run at all, for that is already provided more or 
less well and will be provided in any event. Industry, in 
the promotion of its own selfish interests, cannot afford to 
neglect these obvious instrumental needs. The great sav- 
ings and the great gains will come from focussing the atten- 
tion of the school on those aspects of our economic life that 


1Waste in Industry; a Report by the Committee on Elimination of 
Waste in Industry of the Federated American Engineering Societies. 


ECONOMIC LIFE AND EDUCATION 245 


are in danger of being neglected, namely, the less obvious, 
the less insistent, and the more remote. 

What are the causes of waste in production? If the 
greatest contribution of education to economic efficiency is 
not the skill involved in driving a nail, or the knowledge re- 
quired in running a lathe, what is the goal toward which the 
school should strive? ‘This question can only be answered 
by noting the great causes of waste in industry. The com- 
mittee of the Engineering Societies found these to be faulty 
material control, faulty control of design, insufficient pro- 
vision for research, labor turnover, normal unemployment, 
seasonal unemployment, industrial depressions, labor dis- 
turbances, overequipment, voluntary restriction of produc- 
tion by either management or labor, sickness, physical 
disability, and industrial accident. ‘The most cursory and 
superficial examination of this list reveals the fact that the 
economic life of to-day is so novel and complex that man 
lacks the knowledge and power necessary for its direction. 
Education for economic efficiency must recognize that the 
division of labor within an industry, and the dependence of 
one industry on another for supplies or for markets, have 
made economic efficiency increasingly dependent on the 
successful codperation of individuals and groups. 

Since the obvious need is for more attention to the articu- 
lation and the codrdination of the parts of our industrial 
machine, rather than to the perfection of the parts them- 
selves in isolation, our educational program must give large 
attention to ways and means of securing effective codperation. 
This will entail, however, a radical re-orientation in the realm 
of vocational training. In the past the object of this train- 
ing has been individual success, and the motive to which it 
has appealed has been that of individual advancement. From 
the standpoint of great collective achievement, the type of 
achievement on which successin modern industry rests, a 


246 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


more thoroughly disintegrating force can hardly be imagined. 
In so far as our schools have exalted this conception of the 
successful life they have increased, rather than diminished, 
the influences responsible for waste in our economic order. 

Who is responsible for productive inefficiency? Not 
only are the causes of productive inefficiency complex; they 
are also widely distributed in their incidence. Responsi- 
bility for waste must be borne by management, labor, and 
the public in the ratio of about four, one, one. To each of 
these three factors attention must therefore be given in our 
schools. In the education of those who are to fill managerial 
positions, especially is it needful to teach the lesson of 
coéperation. Unless the management can keep the indus- 
trial machinery running to capacity throughout the year, 
however effective may be the training of those who perform 
the manual labor and specialized tasks, there is little hope 
for greatly increased productive efficiency. 

But the direction of industry is not wholly in the hands 
of those who technically constitute the management. ‘The 
rank and file of workers participate more or less in the con- 
trol of production under almost any condition of industry, 
and will apparently participate in a rapidly increasing 
measure in the future. If in no other way, they take part 
in the direction of industry by voluntarily slowing up the 
productive process, by quitting work individually, or by 
striking in a body. By such methods particularly do the 
workers contribute to economic waste. They must there- 
fore be given that breadth of view and interest which will 
enable them to see and appreciate their industry as a whole 
and its place in the larger society. Only by a more ade- 
quate understanding of the economic, sociological, and 
psychological factors involved can labor contribute to that 
type of efficiency which will best serve its own more lasting 
interests and those of society. 


ECONOMIC LIFE AND EDUCATION Qa 


Management and labor, however, cannot bear the entire 
burden of economic waste. At many points the interests of 
those engaged in an industry come into conflict with the 
larger interests of society. On the one hand, we should 
strive for such an organization of industry as will reduce this 
area of conflict of interests to the lowest possible minimum; 
and, on the other, we should endeavor so to inform the pub- 
lic as to enable it to protect itself from the attacks of preda- 
tory industrial groups. ‘There are also certain wastes that 
can be prevented only through the collective action of an 
enlightened public. Industrial depressions, for example, can 
hardly be banished by the solitary efforts of individuals or 
economic groups. Likewise the operation of seasonal in- 
fluences in many industries can be mitigated only through 
general social action. Public opinion must become in- 
formed in economics, as well as in politics. ; 

Does education foster an equitable distribution of eco- 
nomic goods? If the problems of production are solved, 
however, the achievement of economic efficiency is only in 
its initial stages. As a matter of fact, a perfectly working 
industrial mechanism, in which there is neither open friction 
nor unnecessary dissipation of energy in the production of 
goods, is by no means to be desired for its own sake. This 
condition is as often an indication of successful coercion as 
of genuinely harmonious relationships. Economic slavery 
and ignorance on the part of the masses of the population 
are certainly not incompatible with such a limited ideal of 
economic efficiency. Even a great aggregate production of 
wealth by a people, since an exceptionally high rate of pro- 
duction may be attended by actual poverty and economic 
misery among vast elements of the population, is not in 
itself sufficient cause for satisfaction. This is well illus- 
trated in our own country and in the other great indus- 
trial nations at the present time. Various studies of the dis- 


248 | ~ PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


tribution of income and numerous investigations into the 
cost of living show large sections of the people living on a 
level well below the minimum required for health and de- 
cency. What is more, they show that many are actually 
living on the poverty and pauper levels. This, it should be 
noted, is the condition that exists in the richest country in 
the world, a country favored above all others by a bountiful 
nature, a country that prides itself on its economic efficiency, 
a country that even boasts of its humanity. It exists in 
spite of an era of unprecedented mechanical invention, an 
almost miraculous mastery of natural forces, a huge accumu- 
lation of capital and the tools of production, and an enor- 
mous increase of wealth. 

Our educational program, therefore, if it is to guard the 
interests of the entire population and not serve as a bulwark 
of privilege, must recognize the distribution of income as 
equal in importance to production itself. The central func- 
tion of the economic order is that of distributing food, 
clothing, shelter, and some of the luxuries to all members of 
society. In the simple life of primitive times increased 
production meant greater material prosperity for all, but 
to-day no such natural relationship is found. Production 
might conceivably be greatly increased without appreciably 
improving the lot of the masses. Much more efficient pro- 
duction in American industry is certainly not inconsistent 
with the perpetuation of economic misery. 

So long as each producer owned and controlled all three 
factors of production, namely, natural forces, labor, and 
capital, the problem of the equitable distribution to indi- 
viduals and groups of an income produced in codperation 
did not arise; but, since the coming of modern industry, with 
its minute differentiation of the productive process and its 
complicated system of exchange, this problem has insistently 
forced itself on the attention of society as one of the most 


ECONOMIC LIFE AND EDUCATION 249 


difficult confronting our race. About it to-day there rages 
the great industrial conflict, a conflict that seems to grow 
ever more bitter as the years pass. If the solution of this 
problem is to be a peaceful one, it must come through en- 
lightenment. And the school, potentially the greatest of 
all agencies for enlightenment, cannot refuse to carry the 
major portion of this burden. Up to the present time, edu- 
cational authorities have shown no great concern over the 
relation of vocational education to the distribution of in- 
come. ‘They have tacitly assumed that, whereas production 
may be greatly increased through voluntary effort, distribu- 
tion is a function to be left entirely in the hands of fate or to 
the mercy of natural law. 

Does education foster wise and temperate consumption? 
The educational program, however, must not confine its 
attention solely to production and distribution. These two 
processes are not the whole of the economic cycle. The 
gains derived from the more efficient production of economic 
goods and the more equitable distribution of income may be 
completely wiped out by wasteful methods of marketing 
and unenlightened consumption. In a very real sense the 
consumer is the beginning and the end of the economic 
process. Whether natural or artificially stimulated, his 
wants provide its motivation. 

While some effort has been made in the teaching of the 
household arts to look after the needs of the consumer, the 
school has been inclined to adopt as its own the ancient 
doctrine of emptor caveat. At the same time it has been 
exhibiting increased interest in equipping the salesman with 
that technique which will enable him to sell goods and 
services to the consumer, irrespective of the latter’s need. 
The new psychology of salesmanship, for example, is cal- 
culated to relieve the timid and uninformed of their income 
as painlessly and effectively as possible. ‘This helplessness 


250 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


of the ordinary individual is the more complete because of 
the rapid growth, in recent generations, of commercial enter- 
prise. About the marketing of goods there has grown up a 
highly complicated system that in many instances separates 
the producer from the consumer by months and years of 
time and thousands of miles of space. ‘There is thus sub- 
stituted for the personal connections of an earlier age the 
impersonal relationships of to-day. 

For the maintenance of this system for the exchange of 
goods, which is clearly necessary and advantageous on the 
whole, a considerable share of the individual and social in- 
come must be set apart. Nevertheless, at strategic points 
along the highway over which goods are transported from 
the producer to the consumer, adventurers and brigands are 
wont to establish themselves. Here, lying in ambush and 
holding up the caravans that carry both the necessities and 
luxuries of life to the masses, they divert a portion of these 
goods to their own uses without rendering adequate service 
in return. The writers, of course, have no intention of con- 
veying the impression that the service of the middleman is 
unnecessary to the economic life. There is, however, much 
dissatisfaction with the way in which this function is per- 
formed at the present time. Obviously, we have not made 
progress here equivalent to that achieved in increasing the 
efficiency of the productive process. Furthermore, the 
medium through which exchange is carried on is far from 
stable, and is consequently the cause of much injustice. In 
recent years we have learned that, at least under those ex- 
traordinary circumstances which merely accentuate the 
tendencies of normal times, income, debt, or fortune may be 
halved or doubled within the course of a few months through 
fluctuations in the value of this medium. These are all 
problems of large magnitude whose solution waits upon the 
appearance of an economically enlightened people. 


ECONOMIC LIFE AND EDUCATION yard 


Is education responsible for extravagant consumption? 
For bearimg the narrower responsibilities of consumption 
the individual is likewise unequipped or malequipped. The 
American people are notorious throughout the world for 
their thoughtless and extravagant consumption. ‘This is 
probably due in part to the relative abundance of goods in 
the United States, and the consequent diminished need for 
thrift. But there are other reasons. On every hand there 
are temptations to unwise and intemperate expenditure. 
By the importunities of the ambitious salesman, the sug- 
gestion of the ingenious advertisement, and the breadth of 
social contacts, the wants of folk are artificially stimulated 
to a greater extent than ever before in the history of the 
race. Furthermore, in the practical absence in America of 
aristocratic orders erected about other principles, an aristoc- 
racy of wealth has had little difficulty in securing the gen- 
eral acceptance of its own badge of excellence and in impos- 
ing on an unresisting society the standards of a commercial 
civilization. As a consequence, a disproportionate share 
of the energy and talent of the nation is expended in the 
competition for pecuniary rewards; and the success of an 
individual or family is commonly measured in terms of 
financial achievement. ‘The ambitious young man, there- 
fore, seeks membership in an exclusive club, or the elderly 
matron jockeys for social position through conspicuous con- 
sumption. All too frequently the expenditures for food, 
dress, houses, entertainments, automobiles, jewels, servants, 
travel, and even education are dictated by considerations of 
display rather than utility. 

This prostitution of the process of consumption, which 
bears no relation to the legitimate satisfaction of the 
sesthetic impulses, and which can only dissipate the eco- 
nomic resources of the nation, is by no means confined to the 
wealthy classes. In fact it seems that the members of each 


252 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


class strive to emulate in conspicuous waste those of the 
class slightly more fortunately situated. Even a large in- 
crease in income may be dissipated in a more ambitious 
program of expenditure which contributes nothing to the 
economic stability of the family. Children drop out of high 
school because they cannot maintain the standards of con- 
sumption for which the high school ostensibly stands. Asa 
fitting climax to this mad competition in display, those who 
indulge most freely in the vice comfort themselves with the 
economic superstition that extravagant consumption creates 
work for the poor and promotes prosperity. ‘They fail to 
recognize the obvious truth that luxurious consumption, 
instead of creating a greater demand for labor, merely gives 
a different direction to the productive energies of a nation. 

In the face of this situation the school is permitting young 
men and women to pass through its doors to assume the 
responsibilities of parent, worker, and citizen almost totally 
uninformed about markets and the quality of goods, about 
the snare of the advertiser and the vanity of social emula- 
tion, about savings and the keeping of accounts, and about 
the larger réle which consumption plays in determining the 
character of the economic life. Furthermore, in the forma- 
tion of wise and temperate habits of consumption, as well as 
in the inculcation of corresponding ideals, the lack is yet 
more nearly complete. Before attention is given to the cor- 
rection of these defects we cannot claim to have embarked 
on an educational program that is seriously concerned with 
the promotion of the economic life. 

Does education foster conservation of natural resources? 
Closely related to the question of consumption 1s that of the 
conservation of natural resources. Any nation is plainly 
building on the sands, if it is not instilling in the minds of its 
children through the process of education a feeling of the 
essential sacredness of these resources. If a people fails to 


ECONOMIC LIFE AND EDUCATION 253 


concern itself with the conservation of its soil, minerals, 
forests, and other limited sources of power and materials, 
it is In no wise superior to the individual who, without 
thought of the morrow, squanders his patrimony in riotous 
living. For how many generations the race will be de- 
pendent for its very existence on the continuance of these 
resources, in much their present form, is a matter of specu- 
lation; but there is good reason for believing that it will re- 
quire them for many generations, and perhaps even for 
centuries to come. Hence the necessity that the youth of 
each age pay homage to the principle that the earth and its 
resources belong to no single generation of men, but to the 
unborn as well as to the living. They must be made to 
realize that the wasteful exploitation of these gifts of nature 
is nothing short of pillage. 

In the light of traditional and present practice, the educa- 
tional needs of the American people in this realm are great 
indeed. ‘The impoverished soil in many regions, the de- 
pleted mineral resources, and the fire-blackened forest areas 
tell their own tale. This heritage of nature has been re- 
garded by ambitious, enterprising, able, and unprincipled 
individuals as providing opportunities for the rapid and 
easy acquisition of wealth. Lands of unsurpassed fertility 
three hundred years ago have lost much of their responsive- 
ness to cultivation; the loss in coal, gas, and oil occasioned 
by faulty mining, careless transportation, and wasteful use 
exceeds the actual consumption; and in three centuries two 
thirds of the great forests of our country, originally un- 
rivaled among civilized nations in both extent and value, 
have been either cut or destroyed by fire. According to 
Van Hise, the exploitation of our timber resources has pro- 
ceeded with a recklessness and a wastefulness that cannot 
be matched in the history of the world. The educational 
campaign for.the conservation of our resources, initiated by 


254 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


far-seeing men and women in the early part of the present 
century, and carried forward through the press, the plat- 
form, and specially organized agencies, must be incorpor- 
ated into the program of the school. 

Does education seek to humanize the economic life? Up 
to the present point attention has been directed chiefly to 
the material aspects of economic life and efficiency. Al- 
though the discussion is ordinarily pursued no further, a 
total disregard of the other values involved represents an 
essentially false emphasis in an educational program. 
“The formidable judgment industrialism has to face,” 
writes Santayana, “is that of reason, which demands that 
the increase and specialization of labor be justified by bene- 
fits somewhere actually realized and integrated in indi- 
viduals. Wealth must justify itself in happiness.’ “Our 
economic institutions must not only concern themselves 
with the material interests of present and future generations, 
but, in addition, must promote directly the humane ano 
moral life. Little imagination is required to see that the 
latter may be needlessly sacrificed to the former. 

We must recognize that even food, clothing, and shelter 
merely condition living and are not life itself. There is 
excellent authority for the statement that life is more than 
meat and the body more than raiment. Moreover, from 
this same source has come the injunction to seek first the 
less tangible and more immaterial values, with the as- 
surance that all things shall be added. At this point, 
since material considerations furnish the motive power 
which drives the wheels of the industrial order, our eco- 
nomic life falls farthest short of the ideal. Here also is the 
work of the school, in its one-sided attention to vocae 
tional efficiency, and in its strong predilection to reflect 
the conditions of industry, most shortsighted and even 
pernicious. 


ECONOMIC LIFE AND EDUCATION 255 


Is there a necessary conflict between economic and 
human values? In times past a conflict in the experience 
of the common man has usually existed between the eco- 
nomic and the intellectual and moral life. The gaining of a 
livelihood has been regarded as having nothing in common 
with the more humane interests of mankind. Work has 
been looked upon as evil, as something to be escaped, as 
always involving drudgery and the negation of freedom and 
spontaneity. The unfavorable connotation which this 
short word carries is clearly suggested by the fact that the 
three words offered by Webster as synonyms of work are 
labor, tol, and drudgery. 

This attitude toward work goes far back into antiquity. 
In the third chapter of the first book of the Hebrew sacred 
scripture it finds perfect expression. “In the sweat of thy 
face shalt thou eat bread ’’; so runs the ancient curse laid 
upon man as he was driven from paradise. Here is a most 
interesting and illuminating effort on the part of man to 
account for the fact that work is well-nigh universally a 
disagreeable experience. The necessity of work is clearly 
looked upon as a great misfortune, that can be explained 
only in terms of divine wrath. It is regarded as punishment 
for some early transgression of the race. And interestingly 
enough one of the most powerful dogmas of the Christian 
Church postulates the return of a purified race to a paradise 
from which all toil is banished, and in which the redeemed 
enjoy eternal rest. The hard conditions of life through 
which the race has passed, rather than any inherent quality 
of work, is reflected in this tradition. While the lot of the 
masses of the people has usually included much drudgery, 
many occupations in every age have furthered the growth 
of personality. ‘These callings the privileged and fortunate 
classes have ever sought to monopolize for themselves and 
their children; and not improbably these favored groups 


256 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


have had much to do with the perpetuation, if not with the 
origin, of the tradition which they rigorously and even con- 
scientiously apply to other classes, that man is condemned 
to degrading toil because of ancestral sins. 

How has modern industry intensified the problem? The 
revolution in industry, to which constant reference has been 
made in this discussion, has given added force to the 
doctrine that, for the great majority of men, work is neces- 
sarily identified with drudgery. The minute division of 
labor, with the pace of operations set by power-driven 
machinery and with the more elastic functions of manage- 
ment, buying, and selling assigned to specialists, has re- 
duced the factory operative to a mere cog in a great in- 
dustrial mechanism and taken from him all freedom of 
action. 

The need for intelligence and the opportunity of develop- 
ing his social instincts are thus denied the ordinary work- 
man, and are concentrated in the offices of the superin- 
tendent, the commercial agent, and the efficiency expert. 
Little wonder that the rank and file have resisted bitterly 
this encroachment of industry on the rights of personality, 
and have feared the ultimate effects of those tendencies 
which imply yet greater specialization and the more com- 
plete separation of the workman from the knowledge and 
technique underlying his work. Much of the unrest in the 
economic world to-day may be traced to this dehumanizing 
process that has been promoted by the uses to which me- 
chanical inventions have been put. ‘The attitude of the 
management toward the routine worker has been greatly 
influenced by his reduction of status. In many instances, 
being worn out and-:finally scrapped in the interests of pro- 
duction, he is rated and treated as a machine. Workmen 
through their organizations have been forced to wage con- 
stant warfare against the doctrine that labor is but a com- 


ECONOMIC LIFE AND EDUCATION 257 


modity. Even a great Federal Board has recently given 
out the pronouncement that the demand for a living wage 
should not receive serious consideration at the hands of 
those responsible for the direction of our system of railway 
transportation. 

What solutions are offered? For the purpose of meeting 
this situation two divergent proposals have appeared in the 
Great Society. The one we may style the doctrine of lei- 
sure, the other the doctrine of work. Those who adhere to 
the former doctrine are many, and are found in positions of 
power and influence. Perhaps rationalizing their own de- 
sires that the present industrial system will remain sub- 
stantially as it is, they assume that this tendency toward 
the degradation of labor is an inevitable consequence of 
mechanical invention, and suggest that the only salvation 
of the common man is to be found in shorter hours of labor 
and a compensating leisure life. They would deny to him 
the possibility of expressing himself in his work, but would 
be willing to pay him weil for it. They would insist that he 
sell his birthright for a slightly gilded bowl of pottage. 
This view implies no fundamental social change, but recog- 
nizes as final the apparently inexorable logic of the industrial 
revolution. 

The other doctrine would seek salvation through work 
rather than leisure, and consequently implies a radical 
reconstruction of the economic order. The champions of 
this view maintain that, if we care to give to the problem 
the time and energy and the heart and mind which are so 
freely given to the increase of profits, the economic life can 
be so reorganized as to foster the growth of personality. 
Their argument assumes the following form. In modern 
industry, with its inventions and its countless applications 
of science, this elevation of work is most easily possi- 
ble. The very diversity of the economic life should 


258 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


make possible a cultivation of individual aptitude, capacity, 
and interest not conceivable in the past. In a more primi- 
tive age it would have been difficult to make of industry 
a great educational enterprise, for the foundations upon 
which it rested were little understood. In that day there 
was some basis in necessity for the interpretation given in 
the third chapter of Genesis, but the conditions of life to- 
day make possible a more humane philosophy of work. 
The situation is greatly changed. There is no longer need 
of continuing the cruel paradox of civilization that the very 
activities in which men engage for the purpose of main- 
taining physical existence must tend to impoverish the 
spiritual life. For such a condition there is small excuse, 
since through mechanical invention, so it is suggested, man 
can dominate nature and compel it to do the drudgery in- 
volved in the support of human life. The machine may be 
made the slave rather than the master of man. 

Which solution must education champion? As to the 
relative merits of these two doctrines there is much dispute. 
That the second is the more attractive must be admitted. 
It should therefore be supported in so far as the native 
equipment of men makes it possible and the conditions of 
productive efficiency permit. In the field of industry the 
greatest educational task of this generation is that of so 
organizing our economic life that the area of conflict be- 
tween the demands of productive efficiency and the per- 
sonal growth of the worker will be reduced to the minimum. 
The existing economic order in its concern for profits has 
shown such a ruthless disregard for the lives of the workers 
that in the long run it would undermine its own foundations. 
That monotonous work, however, can be wholly eliminated 
from industry is probably an idle dream. By giving to 
each individual the knowledge underlying the process in 
which he is engaged, much that is now the most meaningless 


ECONOMIC LIFE AND EDUCATION 259 


routine can be made significant; by rotation from task to 
task, where the work of industry has become minutely 
differentiated, the monotony may be relieved and the 
adaptability of the worker preserved; and by participation 
in the management of the enterprise the highly specialized 
operative can be given some feeling of his own worth and an 
opportunity to give expression to his creative and social 
impulses. In a word, even the simplest of callings can be 
made to take on complexity and meaning to the degree that 
its relations to the rest of life are appreciated. 

But while saying this we must be on guard against the 
intellectualistic and pathetic fallacy that so easily creeps 
into this discussion of the relation of vocation to the growth 
of the self. ‘There is a natural tendency for the critic of our 
economic life to make universal his own reactions to the 
narrower types of work, and to assume that they are as 
limited in their intellectual possibilities, and as uninterest- 
ing and disagreeable, for the ordinary workman as they are 
for him. Both of these assumptions contain but partial 
truths. The present situation is perhaps not so bad as the 
Imaginative observer thinks it is, nor does it contain the 
possibilities of improvement that he believes and hopes it 
does. Any sound educational program must recognize the 
profound differences in individuals and be prepared to ac- 
cept the limitations placed by nature on the ideal. The 
most that we can hope to do is to give to each individual 
who works in industry as wide an appreciation of the 
scientific and social meaning of his task as his native equip- 
ment permits. Nevertheless, the educational possibilities 
are far in advance of present industrial practice. In this 
direction education can render a humanitarian service of 
which at present it scarcely dreams. 

Can the will to serve be made to motivate the economic 
life? If education at its various levels is to accomplish 


260 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


some small part of the program outlined in this discussion, 
if it is to increase our productive efficiency, if it 1s to secure 
a more equitable distribution of the goods and services pro- 
duced, if it is to develop habits of wise and temperate con- 
sumption, if it is to promote the conservation of our natural 
resources, if it is to bring industry into harmony with life 
itself, it must seek to promote the organization of industry 
about a new principle. The principle of service must be 
enthroned in place of the principle of profits. So long as 
profits determine the course of the economic life it is mere 
rhetoric to champion the larger and more permanent inter- 
ests of the individual and society. The unbridled desire for 
profits is a divisive force in the industrial order which gen- 
erates the strife and misunderstanding that to-day are shak- 
ing the foundations of western civilization. That there 
are other motives to which appeal can be made is clear to 
him who is familiar with the various forms which economic 
institutions have taken in the course of human history. 
We find ourselves then in an anomalous position, partly 
because the notion of service has been so narrowed that it 
covers only the more unusual and spectacular forms of 
achievement, such as are rendered by the statesman, the 
soldier, the physician, and the clergyman. This has made 
necessary the reliance in the more ordinary fields of en- 
deavor on some other motive. No attempt is made to pay 
the soldier or the statesman what he is worth in dollars 
and cents, but each is satisfied because he is rewarded by 
the knowledge of worth-while accomplishment and by the 
esteem in which his service is held. “I offer neither pay, 
nor quarters, nor provisions: I offer hunger, thirst, forced 
marches, battles, and death. Let him who loves his coun- 
try in his heart and not with his lips only, follow me.” 
Thus Garibaldi, i 1849, appealed not m vain to the youth 
of Italy. In the economic sphere, on the other hand, there 


ECONOMIC LIFE AND EDUCATION 261 


has been no extra-financial recognition of valuable service 
rendered. Hence society is driven to the impossible and 
fantastic attempt to dole out to each workman the exact 
financial measure of his performance. In the absence of 
the least tinge of idealism we have exaggerated the impor- 
tance of the acquisitive impulses, and have thereby induced 
the sickness from which the industrial world is suffering. 
This malady can only be cured by raising the humblest 
phases of the economic life to the level of valuable service 
rendered to an appreciative society. 

Can education infuse a new spirit into the economic life? 
If such an attitude toward occupation can be developed, 
the individual, regardless of the nature of his task, will derive 
satisfaction from its successful performance. Apparently 
the first demand of man is that his efforts be adequately 
appreciated by the members of the group to which he be- 
longs. In most cases, even in instances of great achieve- 
ment, unless this appreciation is forthcoming the successful 
performance of a task is but gall and wormwood. In times 
of war the digging of a trench or the preparing of bandages 
assumes an unwonted significance because it 1s part of a 
great collective enterprise involving the welfare of the group. 
A British war correspondent, during the World War, well 
expressed this change when he wrote of the men in the 
trenches: 


It is a wonder that never palls, but is always new: the spirit 
which these men of ours possess, from no matter what corner of 
the Empire they may have come. One wonders where the grum- 
blers, the cowards, the mean people whom one thought one met in 
ordinary life, have gone. They are nothere. Or, if they are, they 
are uplifted and transfigured. They doubtless, many of them, 
could not explain or express it, but some wind has blown upon 
them, the inspiration of a great cause has come into them, some 
sense of comradeship and brotherhood inspires them, something 
has made true soldiers and gallant men of them all. 


262 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


In times of peace the running of a sewing machine or the 
cleaning of streets is potentially just as significant as many 
of these war-time activities, if we but possessed the tradi- 
tions and the imagination so to regard it. In fact many of 
the ordinary tasks of the economic world assume heroic 
proportions when viewed in proper perspective. 

This then is the supreme task of education as it touches 
the economic life — to inject a new spirit into vocation, to 
give to the coming generation a wider appreciation of eco- 
nomic activities, to get men and women to see and feel that 
through the economic institutions the race is wresting from 
a somewhat hostile nature those basic goods on which 
buman life and civilization rest. ; 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


1. What relationship exists between the rapid economic growth and the 
unrivaled expenditures on public education in North America? 
In whose interests has been the rapid extension of the opportunities 
for education? 

2. In what respects has the industrial revolution made necessary the 
modification of the earlier form of training artisans by apprenticeship? 

3. Justify the statement that the extraordinary advance in the material 
prosperity has not been accompanied by any corresponding advance 
in the principles of living upon which human happiness depends. 
How can the absence of this advance be attributed to false emphases 

/ in education? 

4. To what extent has the development of our vocational schools and 
curricula been determined by the interests of special industrial groups, 
rather than by considerations of the general social welfare? 

5. To what extent is economic health and the curing of economic ills 
dependent upon the possession on the part of the population of com- 
mon rather than special knowledges, dispositions, and ideals? 

6. What school practices hinder the development of those codperative 
habits and dispositions which are essential to the growth of a better 
industrial order? 

7. ¥rom what quarters may we expect opposition to the giving of serious 
attention, in our educational institutions, to a more equitable dis‘ 
tribution of wealth and to the conservation of natural resources? 

8. What practices in: (1) elementary school; (2) secondary school; (3/ 


10. 


EI. 


Zs 


13. 


14, 


15. 


16. 


ECONOMIC LIFE AND EDUCATION 263 


state college; and (4) private college, contribute to the growth of 
habits of wasteful and extravagant consumption? 


. K:om the standpoint of motivation, how is play to be distinguished 


from work? What are the reasons in modern society for the clearly 
marked distinction? 

What fundamental criticism would you make of the social theory 
that would give but little attention to improvements of the social 
conditions of work, but would rather reward the worker with in- 
creased leisure? 

What is the ideal of success set before the student of the secondary 
schools and colleges of the country? Does the nature of this ideal 
explain the reduced ranks of some of the more humane professions? 
How have the social and economic facts of our industrial life been 
overlooked as a rich source of material for a general education? 
What has been the reason? 

What is the error in the theory that the great majority of men will 
only work effectively for hire? What light did the war throw on this 
question? 

Contrast the position taken in these pages with the assumption under- 
lying the following statement: “The only possible defense for the 
expenditure of public funds for educational purposes is found in the 
increase of economic production.” 

What are the controlling purposes of vocational training when this 
training is in the hands of private interests, whether employer or 
labor union? How do these purposes differ from those advocated in 
these pages? 

Critics of this section maintain that such a discussion of the economic 
life as is here presented is not pertinent in a text-book on the Principles 
of Education. How would you justify its relevancy? 


PROBLEM 15 
HOW MAY EDUCATION ADVANCE THE CIVIC LIFE? 


What is the function of civic institutions? — What was the early faith in 
political democracy? — Has this faith been realized? — Has social kept 
pace with material progress? — Why must the nature and purpose of civic 
education be changed? — What kind of a society should education seek to 
create? — What is a democratic society? — What must be the objectives 
of civic education in a democratic society? — How may the school en- 
courage the formation of basic civic habits? — How may the school 
develop an appreciation of the social heritage? — How may the school 
inculcate a progressive civic attitude? — How may the school develop 
respect for orderly methods? — How may the school impart precise civic 
information? — How may the school cultivate a scientific civic temper? — 
How may the school develop a broad social consciousness? — Can the 
school educate for world citizenship? 


What is the function of civic institutions? Since the first 
days of group life man has found it both wise and necessary 
to resort to collective action in the pursuit of social ends. 
By means of such action the material and moral welfare of 
the community and the good of the individuals composing 
it have been promoted. Men have associated together to 
insure safety against external attack, to preserve order and 
security within the community, to guarantee justice through 
the impartial adjustment of disputes, to curb anti-social 
tendencies by the punishment of offenses, to administer 
efficiently the common affairs of the group, to assist the in- 
dividual citizen in the achievement of his own legitimate 
purposes, and to guide him in the development of his own 
capacities. ‘They have organized for the purpose of realiz- 
ing the faith that the world can be remoulded closer to the 
heart’s desire. 

To attain these and other ends man has created political 


CIVIC LIFE AND EDUCATION 265 


institutions of great variety and complexity. But not in- 
frequently these agencies for the public good have become 
so powerful and productive of injustice in the hands of in- 
dividuals or classes that thoughtful men have regarded them 
as wholly evil. Monarchs have enslaved entire peoples, 
and for generations have demanded heavy tribute for every 
service rendered. Men and women have even been re- 
quired at times to fall down and worship the State, and to 
offer up to this political divinity a perpetual sacrifice of 
wealth and human flesh. Only through eternal vigilance 
is it possible to thwart the efforts of the servant to assume 
the réle of master. 

What was the early faith in political democracy? In 
order to control these institutions in the general interest 
and to make them responsive to the commor needs, there 
have appeared, at various times and places in human his- 
tory, and more particularly in recent centuries in western 
Europe and America, popular governments based on a wide 
suffrage. In the eighteenth century men began a vigorous 
assault on the crumbling despotisms and tyrannies of feudal- 
ism which has led to the almost universal adoption among 
civilized peoples of some form of political democracy. At 
that time there was a tendency to ascribe all the evils to 
which man is subject to the maleficence of kings and queens 
and emperors, and to the selfish greed of the various heredi- 
tary ranks of the feudal state. There was a naive faith in 
the perfectability of human nature. Many believed that 
the perfecting of mankind would naturally and quickly 
follow the abolition of these restraints of privilege. In 
anticipation of the great changes that were coming and 
the fond hopes for the early establishment of a new social 
order to be dominated by the ideals of liberty, equality, 
and fraternity, the enthusiasm of the period is well de- 
scribed in the memorable lines of Wordsworth: 


266 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


“Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, 
But to be young was very Heaven! O times, \ 
When Reason seemed the most to assert her rights, 
A prime enchantress — to assist the work, 
Which then was going forward in her name! 
Not favored spots alone, but the whole Earth, 
The beauty wore of promise — that which sets 
The budding rose above the rose full blown. 
What temper at the prospect did not wake 
To happiness unthought of?” 


To these eighteenth-century advocates of political de- 
mocracy man was a rational being who, always seeing and 
pursuing the more abiding interests, would, if given the 
opportunity, make short shrift of the social ills of the time. 
To them political democracy was the philosopher’s stone 
through which an ideal society would be shortly brought 
into being. Bryce has thus described the community 
which it was conceived unfettered human nature would 
create: + 


In it the average citizen will give close and constant attention to 
public affairs, recognizing that this is his interest as well as his 
duty. He will try to comprehend the main issues of policy, 
bringing to them an independent aid impartial mind, which 
thinks first not of his own but of the general interest. If, owing to 
inevitable differences of opinion as to what are the measures 
needed for the general welfare, parties become inevitable, he will 
join one, and aitend its meetings, but will repress the impulses of 
party spirit. Never failing to come to the polls, he will vote for 
his party candidate only if satisfied of his capacity and honesty. 
He will be ready to serve on a local Board or Council, and to be 
put forward as a candidate for the legislature (if satisfied of his 
own competence), because public service is recognized as a duty. 
With such citizens as electors, the legislature will be composed of 
upright and capable men, single-minded in their wish to serve the 
nation. Bribery in constituencies, corruption among public 
servants, will have disappeared. Leaders may not be always 
enlightened, nor assemblies always wise, nor administrators ef- 





1 Bryce, James: Modern Democracies, vol. 1, pp. 53-54. 


CIVIC LIFE AND EDUCATION 267 


ficient, but all will be at any rate honest and zealous, so that an_ 
atmosphere of confidence and goodwill will prevail. Most of the 
causes that make for strife will be absent, for there will be no 
privileges, no advantages to excite jealousy. Office will be sought 
only because it gives opportunities for useful service. Power will 
be shared by all, and a career open to all alike. Even if the law 
does not — perhaps it cannot — prevent the accumulation of 
fortunes, these will be few and not inordinate, for public vigilance 
will close the illegitimate paths to wealth. All but the most de- 
praved persons will obey and support the law, feeling it to be their 
own. There will be no excuse for violence, because the constitu- 
tion will provide a remedy for every grievance. Equality will 
produce a sense of human solidarity, will refine manners, and 
increase brotherly kindness. 


Has this faith been realized? This was the anticipation. 
How cruelly have the hopes of these idealists been thwarted! 
At the very time when political democracy has triumphed, 
at the very time when four once powerful empires have 
crashed to the earth in war and revolution, great masses of 
men scoff at popular governments and even speak of the 
general failure of parliamentary institutions. Political de- 
mocracy has not ushered in the millennium. A glance over 
the modern world reveals all too much of corruption, in- 
efficiency, coercion, poverty, crime, bitterness, strife, frus- 
tration, fear, hate, ignorance, violence, tyranny, and vice. 
Bryce, writing near the close of his life, thus summarizes 
human experience with democratic institutions: ! 


As respects progress in the science and art of free government, 
experience has established certain principles that were unknown 
to those who lived under despotisms, and has warned us of certain 
dangers unforeseen by those who first set up free governments; 
but when it comes to the application of these principles, and the 
means of escaping these dangers, the faults that belonged to 
human nature under previous forms of govertiments have reap- 
peared. Some gains there have been, but they have laid more in 


~ 1Bryce, James: Modern Democracies, vol. u, pp. 607-08. 


268 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


the way of destroying what was evil than in the creating of what 
is good; and the belief that the larger the number of those who 
share in governing the more will there be of wisdom, of self-con- 
trol, of a fraternal and peace-loving spirit has been rudely shat- 
tered. Yet the rule of Many is safer than the rule of One, — as 
Cavour said, that however faulty a legislative chamber may be an 
ante-chamber is worse — and the rule of the multitude is gentler 
than the rule of a class. However grave the indictment that may 
be brought against democracy, its friends can answer, ‘‘ What 
better alternative do you offer?” 


Why has political democracy fallen short of the anticipa- 
tion? ‘This estimate of the success that has attended politi- 
cal democracy, coming as it does from one who gave his life 
to its study and promotion, can afford but little comfort. 
When compared with the expectations of its eighteenth 
century advocates, its limited accomplishments appear the 
more striking. The hopes of these zealous reformers and 
idealists have by no means been realized. We cannot say 
that political democracy has failed. We should rather say 
that the social salvation of a pecple cannot be achieved 
merely by the adoption of a political philosophy. The 
problem of human living is far more difficult than our fore- 
fathers imagined; and those inventions and discoveries 
which have led to the transformation of the physical basis 
of social life have not made it easier. Their faith was based 
on all too simple a formula, namely, that the gift of suffrage 
would create the will to use it, and that an elementary edu- 
cation consisting chiefly of reading and writing would create 
the capacity to employ this gift aright. Both of these as- 
sumptions have proved unsound. Many individuals refuse 
to exercise the franchise, and the ability to read may merely 
make the citizen more amenable to propaganda. A so- 
ciety based on universal suffrage is certain to reflect the 
limitations and defects of mind and character resident in 
the population. 


CIVIC LIFE AND EDUCATION 269 


It was also unforeseen that even popular governments, 
by making the school an mstrument for the inculcation of 
pious political dogma, may blind its youthful citizens to 
reality. In many quarters to-day critics are saying that 
the possibilities of education are much more restricted than 
was believed in the early days of the Republic. That we can 
place little hope in mere literacy is certainly true; but there 
is no support in experience for the view that the limitations 
set by human nature are sufficient to render all forms of 
education ineffective. As yet no genuine effort has been 
made to attack the problems of civic life through a broad 
educational program. Such a program, the only hope of 
human society, must be consciously derived from an analy- 
sis of man’s social nature and the conditions of life in the 
modern world. 

Has social kept pace with material progress? In the 
nineteenth century were laid the material foundations of a 
new civilization. The great task of the twentieth is the 
erection on this base of a social and spiritual superstructure 
of commensurate pattern. Until this is accomplished the 
times will be out of joint, and the full harvest of man’s 
brilliant achievements in the domain of physical nature will 
not be garnered. Many of our institutions, customs, atti- 
tudes, and ideas are adjustments worked out for a simpler 
type of social life than is possible to-day. There are yoked 
together, therefore, two divisions of the social inheritance 
in different stages of evolution and manifesting contra- 
dictory attitudes toward the world. In the realm of me- 
chanical invention, where progress has been rapid, there is a 
constant and socially stimulated search for improvements; 
while in the field of social invention, where advance has 
been slow in the past, new discoveries far from being en- 
couraged are, if radical in their nature, even regarded as 
dangerous. We cling as fondly to an outworn institution or 


270 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


prejudice as the savage clings to his stone hatchet or the 
medieval peasant to his wooden plow. Nevertheless, as the 
sickle has given place to the reaper, the shuttle to the power 
loom, the horse to the locomotive, and the signal fire to the 
telegraph, so must many of the social conventions of the 
present, survivals of a by-gone age, give place to more use- 
ful and efficient adaptations. The function of education is 
to facilitate rather than hinder this process of adjustment. 

How have the problems of social life been complicated? 
Mechanical invention has brought into existence a world for 
which the race 1s not fitted by nature and for which it can 
be fitted only through an elaborate educational experience. 
The ordinary citizen would make a fairly good member of 
the small kinship group of primitive times in which life is 
simple and direct and his relations to others are intimate 
and face-to-face. Under these conditions the results of his 
actions are apparent to himself and others and the determi- 
nation of responsibility is not difficult. His allegiance is not 
divided by membership in divers groups whose interests 
conflict at many points. With the welfare of this small 
primitive group therefore he identifies himself completely, 
and finds little difficulty in giving to it a natural and un- 
questioned loyalty. But when this same individual is 
placed in a nation of a hundred millions of people, or in a 
world of many hundreds of millions, in which the results of 
behavior are difficult to trace and in which there are count- | 
less groups supporting every conceivable interest, groups 
within groups and groups beyond groups, groups forming 
and reforming in endless variety — when this same indi- 
vidual is placed in such an environment he finds himself 
facing problems which he cannot solve, and constantly in 
the presence of problems which he does not perceive. The 
cost of living rises, or the scourge of war visits his country, 
and he curses some malevolent spirit resident in a great 


CIVIC LIFE AND EDUCATION Q71 


financial center or in the capital of a foreign nation. Man 
becomes lost in the mazes of the labyrinth of his own con- 
struction and wanders blindly on in search of some passage 
that will lead him out of confusion. 

Why must the nature and purpose of civic education be 
changed? ‘This situation sets the educational task. The 
methods of the past require supplementation and modifica- 
tion. To the incidental education, which comes in the dis- 
charge of the ordinary responsibilities of living and which 
was adequate to the needs of earlier times with their limited 
possibilities and hopes, must be added conscious educational 
guidance of the most enlightened character. The funda- 
mental purpose of civic education, however, if it is to 
render any important service in promoting the civic life, 
must undergo radical change. As we contemplate the 
spirit of mistrust and hate that broods over the modern 
world, a spirit that our own and previous generations have 
created, a feeling of profound humility is the only attitude 
which we may fittingly assume in the presence of the more 
difficult and complex social problems. Pathetic indeed is 
the practice, current among the nations of the world, of 
assuming the great purpose of education to be that of 
authoritatively teaching the youth to become like their 
elders. The achievement of such an objective can only 
mean the perpetuation of the failure, the limitation, and 
the bewilderment that beset the world to-day. Our fear 
should rather be that, in spite of all that can be done, the 
next generation will give only too clear evidence of its 
parentage. If we are to rely upon authority, upon whom 
shall we place the mantle of the prophet? 

The present condition of the race suggests that the whole 
of mankind, the middle-aged and the old, as well as the 
young, should go to school. But such an heroic measure, 
except to a very imperfect degree, is obviously impracticable. 


Q72 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


The most for which we may legitimately hope is that edu- 
cational leaders, recognizing that their ignorance is only less 
complete than that of their followers, will regard their task 
as largely that of leading men and women, and especially 
the younger generation, in a spirit of comradeship on a 
quest for a better world. If the school is to take an active 
part in that general reconstruction of human society for 
which mankind wistfully watches to-day, from men and 
women of large vision, broad sympathy, and inquiring 
mind, must the ranks of the teaching profession be re- 
cruited. 


As Bryce well says: ! 


Whoever attempts to forecast the course systems of government 
will take must therefore begin from the two propositions that the 
only thing we know about the Future is that it will differ from the 
Past, and that the only data we have for conjecturing what the 
Future may possibly bring with it are drawn from observations 
of the Past, or, in other words, from that study of the tendencies 
of human nature which gives ground for expecting from men 
certain kinds of action in certain states of fact. We cannot refrain 
from conjecture. Yet to realize how vain conjectures are, let us 
imagine ourselves to be in the place of those who only three or 
four generations ago failed to forecast what the next following 
generation would see. Let us suppose Burke, Johnson, and Gib- 
bon sitting together at a dinner of The Club in 1769, the year when 
Napoleon and Wellington were born, and the talk falling on the 
politics of the European continent. Did they have any presage 
of the future? The causes whence the American Revolution and 
the French Revolution were to spring, and which would break the 
sleep of the peoples in Germany and Italy, might, one would think, 
have already been discerned by three such penetrating observers, 
but the only remarks most of us recall as made then and for some 
years afterwards to note symptoms of coming dangers were made 
by a French traveller, who said that the extinction of French 
Power in Canada had weakened the tie between the American col- 
onies and Great Britain, and by an English traveller who saw 











1 Bryce, James: Modern Democracies, vol. 11, pp. 598-99. 


CIVIC LIFE AND EDUCATION 273 


signs of rottenness in the French Monarchy. Men stood on the 
edge of stupendous changes, and had not a glimpse of even the 
outlines of those changes, not discerning the causes that were 
already in embryo beneath their feet, like seeds hidden under the 
snow of winter which will shoot up under the April sunlight. How 
much more difficult has it now become to diagnose the symptoms 
of an age in which the interplay of economic forces, intellectual 
forces, and moral and religious forces is more complex than ever 
heretofore, incomparably more complex than it had seemed to be 
before discovery had gone far in the spheres of chemistry, physics, 
and biology, before education had been diffused through all 
classes, before every part of the world had been drawn into rela- 
tions with every other part so close that what affects one must 
affect the rest. 


The slender basis on which any dogmatism regarding the 
future of society must rest is here delineated. It is for this 
reason that the methods commonly employed in civic edu- 
cation are apt to be either sterile or productive of evil. 
Leaving those things that are behind and pressing on to that 
which is before, it is the inescapable task of each generation 
to confront with openmindedness the problems of the future. 

What kind of society should education seek to create? 
If this analysis is at all correct civic education must include 
much more than the knowledge of political machinery. It 
must provide for the modification of the current political 
modes in which human nature has expressed itself. While 
the individual citizen should know something about the 
forms of government, the organization of political parties, 
and the methods of voting, this is only the beginning of civic 
understanding. He must see beyond these mechanisms to 
the purposes of political institutions and the possibilities of 
associative living. He must be given a vision of a better 
social order and at the same time the will to achieve it. 
He must be made to realize that these institutions are but 
instruments, and very imperfect instruments at that, to be 
employed in giving reality to such a vision. While it is im- 


Q74 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


possible to lay down the plans and specifications for the 
social order which is implicit in, and made possible by, the 
great changes of recent centuries, there are certain control- 
ling principles or ideals that must guide the development of 
the educational program. 

Our children must be equipped more effectively than are 
their elders for living together in the Great Society without 
friction or the sacrifice of personality. But this is a nega- 
tive statement of the ideal. Our aim must be that of 
bringing into existence a social system that centers about 
and promotes the growth of the individual, a system in 
which frustration is less common and life is more abundant. 
Friction, though symptomatic of maladjustment, is not the 
greatest of social ills, for it is often generated by individuals 
or classes in their efforts to escape from bondage. In the 
past there have been many instances of group life in which 
open conflict has been reduced to a minimum; but this con- 
dition has usually meant an unabashed sacrifice of person- 
ality for all but a privileged minority, and probably a less 
obvious, though equally injurious, warping of the character 
of the members of this minority. In primitive times, and 
throughout the greater part of human history, repression has 
been the lot of man. Liberty has always been a plant of 
tender growth, apparently exotic to the conditions of hu- 
man society. Even to-day, after a struggle of centuries for 
freedom, there are many who look with favor on a strict 
regimentation of society. But outward tranquillity can be 
bought at too great a price. The friction that so charac- 
terizes modern society must be reduced by furthering a 
more rational ordering of life and not by clumsy resort to 
repression, the age-long tool of incompetence. 

What is a democratic society? The concept of democ- 
racy as commonly referring to a set of political institutions 
based upon popular elections must be expanded to include a 


CIVIC LIFE AND EDUCATION Q75 


way of living. The worth of social life must be measured 
in terms of its contribution to the growth of human per- 
sonality and to the development of the potentialities latent 
in original nature. The ideal of Immanuel Kant, that 
every man should always be treated as an end and never as 
a means merely, is essentially democratic. According to 
Dewey, society is democratic in so far as the individual 
member of a particular group shares intelligently im all its 
activities and interests, and in so far as each group within 
the larger society sustains intimate and varied contacts 
with other groups. To the degree that the lives of indi- 
viduals are made barren by the arbitrary subordination of 
their needs and interests to those of others, and to the degree 
that groups are isolated from one another by social and arti- 
ficial barriers, society is undemocratic. In a society that is 
democratic, when measured by these criteria, there exist the 
greatest opportunities for personal growth; only in such a 
society are the educational resources latent in social life 
offered freely to the individual whatever the condition of his 
birth. The educational program, while keeping its feet 
firmly planted in the life of the present, must derive its in- 
spiration from some such ideal conception of a better social 
order. 

Bertrand Russell, at the close of his discussion of Pro- 
posed Roads to Freedom, thus holds the ideal before us; ! 


The world that we must seek is a world in which the creative 
spirit is alive, in which life is an adventure full of joy and hope, 
based rather upon the impulse to construct than upon the desire to 
retain what we possess or to seize what is possessed by others. 
It must be a world in which affection has free play, in which love 
is purged of the instinct of domination, in which cruelty and envy 
have been dispelled by happiness and the unfettered development 
of ail the instincts that build up life and fill it with mental delights. 


oe 





1 Russell, Bertrand: Proposed Roads to Freedom, p. 212. 


276 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


Such a world is possible; it waits only for men to wish to create 
it. Meantime, the world in which we exist has other aims. 
But it will pass away, burned up in the fire of its own hot passions; 
and from its ashes will spring a new and younger world, full of 
fresh hope, with the light of morning in its eyes. 


Perhaps the most difficult of all educational tasks will be 
that of bringing into existence a generation of men who 
sincerely yearn for such a world. Many living to-day do 
not wish it; especially is this true of the great majority of 
those occupying positions of responsibility and power. 
They lack the drive, the courage, or the wisdom to bend 
their energies to the task; or, hugging to their breasts the 
puny satisfactions of privilege, they make the “ great re- 
nunciation ” and turn their backs on the venture of de- 
mocracy. “ Hatred in the past and trepidation for the 
future effectually block the way of social advance.” Yet 
the response given by the people of all lands to the idealism 
expressed in the closing years of the World War indicates 
the presence of a deep reservoir of good will that may yet 
be harnessed to the task of creating a more humane world. 

What must be the objectives of civic education in a 
democratic society? We have now considered in a general 
way the nature of the educational problem which the school 
must face, if it is to make any effective effort to promote the 
civic life. The principle of growth must find conscious ex- 
pression in the life of the individual and in the life of society. 
Civic education must be looked upon as a process that 
begins with birth and ceases only with death. For the pur- 
pose of increasing and refining the happiness of all the mem- 
bers of society, education must seek the continuous recon- 
struction of the social order and human relations. It must 
ever strive to give the lie to the cynical jest made twenty- 
three centuries ago by Sophocles that “The best thing for a 
man is never to have been born at all, and the next best 


CIVIC LIFE AND EDUCATION Q77 


thing to return swiftly to that darkness whence he came.” 
Our program, reflecting this wide view of civic education, 
must take into specific account each of seven objectives. 
It must provide: (1) for the formation of certain basic civic 
habits; (2) for the development of an appreciation of the 
worth of our social heritage; (3) for the adoption of a pro- 
gressive attitude towards civic questions; (4) for the growth 
of a disposition to rely upon orderly methods in the attain- 
ment of social ends; (5) for the acquisition of precise informa- 
tion about the more important problems of contemporary 
life; (6) for the cultivation of a scientific temper in the field 
of social relations; and (7) for the development of a broad 
social consciousness. An adequate program must plan for 
the achievement, at the various levels of instruction, of all 
these objectives. We shall now pass to a brief examination 
of each of these aims, and shall consider the educational 
means necessary to its attainment. 

How may the school encourage the formation of basic 
civic habits? In the first place, the formation of civic 
habits must receive attention. Through active membership 
in many groups the individual citizen should form those 
dispositions necessary to life in a democracy. Beginning 
in the home, the child should progressively assume re- 
sponsibility for the performance of certain tasks neces- 
sary to the promotion of the family welfare. Through 
actual participation in this simple form of social life he 
should learn to respect the rights of others, to find pleas- 
ure in performing acts of simple kindness, to render will- 
ingly within the home the various services appropriate to 
his age, to be honest, truthful, and fair in his dealings 
with other members of the family. 

These habits formed in the home should be extended 
naturally to an ever-widening group. In the school and on 
the playground children, passing and enforcing laws in the 


278 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


interests of the group, should participate in the control of 
their own affairs. The life of the school, recognizing no 
social classes and permitting special privileges to none, 
should approximate as closely as possible the ideal of a 
democratic community. At the same time the school 
should maintain an intimate contact with the community 
of which it is a part, and should stimulate the formation of 
those habits which are required in the adult civic life. 
Since each of the other seven objectives can be translated 
partly into terms of habit, since in fact each can be given 
expression only through habits of action, feeling, and 
thought, the remaining discussion will, in some measure, 
elaborate and give more definite form to this first point. In 
a sense, they are dispositions which, supplementing the 
more simple expressions of virtue in primitive groups, must 
be cultivated with especial care in the Great Society. 

How may the school develop an appreciation of the social 
heritage? In the second place, provision must be made for 
the development of an appreciation of that priceless social 
heritage which comes as a free gift from the lives and labors 
of that long and varied line of human forebears, linking man 
with the rest of animate nature. In spite of its imperfec- 
tions, we must not forget that this heritage represents the 
struggles and sacrifices of countless generations of men and, 
in the last analysis, is all that stands between us and the life 
of the brute. Our young people must be made to realize 
fully what our institutions have cost in human energy, 
travail, and blood. Especially necessary is this to-day 
when the older and more arbitrary sanctions of morals and 
religion are so rapidly losing their authority. The younger 
generation must be made to value the high privilege of living 
in this age in which they so freely enjoy the fruits of the 
achievements of past generations. The thoughtless atti- 
tude towards this heritage which is characteristic of the 


CIVIC LIFE AND EDUCATION 279 


ordinary citizen is playfully described by Robinson in the 
following words: ! 


In every age the prevailing conditions of civilization have ap- 
peared quite natural and inevitable to those who grew up in them. 
The cow asks no questions as to how it happens to have a dry stall 
and a supply of hay. The kitten laps its warm milk from a china 
saucer, without knowing anything about porcelain; the dog nestles 
in the corner of a divan with no sense of obligation to the inventors 
of upholstery and the manufacturers of down pillows. So we 
humans accept our breakfasts, our trains and telephones and 
orchestras and movies, our national Constitution, our moral code 
and standards of manners, with the simplicity and innocence of 
a pet rabbit. We have absolutely inexhaustible capacities for 
appropriating what others do for us with no thought of a “‘thank 
you.” We do not feel called upon to make any least contribution 
ourselves. Indeed, we are usually quite unaware that a game is 
being played at all. 


How may the school inculcate a progressive civic atti- 
tude? In the third place, a progressive and positive atti- 
tude towards the problems of social life must be fostered in 
the youth of the nation. This is perhaps the only effective 
way in which the individual may give expression to his 
appreciation of what the daring, adventurous, and creative 
spirits of earlier generations have bequeathed to him. He 
must be made to realize that every particle of our social in- 
heritance has been created by men, that at one time every 
habit, idea, or invention was an innovation and consti- 
tuted a departure from customary practice. Paradoxical 
as it may seem, the true disciple of the inventors and 
prophets of the past is not the man who blindly clings to 
their inventions or reverently repeats their dogmas, but 
rather he who, giving expression to their spirit and making 
intelligent use of the fruits of their genius, improves upon 
their efforts. Commenting on the great lesson that history 

1 Robinson, J. H.: The Mind in the Making, p. 57. 


280 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


teaches in this connection, the writer from whom we have 
just quoted has thus criticized current educational practice:! 

If what has been said above is true, or any considerable part of 
it, is not almost our whole education at fault? We make no con- 
sistent effort to cultivate a progressive spirit in our boys and girls. 
They are not made to realize the responsibility that rests upon 
them — the exhilaration that comes from ever looking and press- 
ing forward. They are still so largely nurtured upon the ab- 
stract and the classical that we scarcely yet dare to bring educa- 
tion into relation with life. The history they are taught brings 
few or none of the lessons the past has to offer. They are reared 
with too much respect for the past, too little confidence for the 
future. Does not education become in this way a mighty barrier 
cast across the way of progress, rather than a guidepost to better- 
ment? | 


It is a sad commentary on the character of education that 
some of those social changes which have proved most wise 
were opposed from the start by the educated classes. In- 
stead of firing the youth with a zeal for making happier the 
lot cf man, education has rather developed the mind of 
timid and reactionary mould. The school has often 
striven with success to produce the unprogressive citizen 
with, in the words of John Morley, “his inexhaustible 
patience of abuses that only torment others; his apologetic 
word for beliefs that may not be so precisely true as one 
might wish, and institutions that are not altogether so use- 
ful as some might think possible; his cordiality towards 
progress and improvement in a general way, and his cold- 
ness or antipathy to each progressive proposal in particular; 
his pygmy hope that life will one day become somewhat 
better, punily shivering by the side of his gigantic convic- 
tion that it might well be infinitely worse.’’ Obviously an 
education of this type, since it can serve only a privileged 
class and this class only in narrow fashion, does not merit 
attention, still less deserve public support. 

1 Robinson, J. H.: The New History, pp. 265-66. 


CIVIC LIFE AND EDUCATION 281 


Another aspect of this problem is the need of developing a 
willingness and even a desire on the part of the citizen to 
give freely of his time and energy to the common good. An 
appreciation of the benefits of which one partakes is of so- 
cial value only in so far as it results in works. For the 
individual to be progressive avails but little, if his powers 
are wholly absorbed in the pursuit of strictly private ends. 
No small part of our civic failure may be traced directly te 
the indifference of large sections of the population. Each 
individual is so concerned about “ getting ahead,” — the 
great ideal of American life — that he is willing to spare but 
a small part of his time for the purification and advance- 
ment of the social interest. The public service does not 
stand high in the estimation of the ordinary citizen. The 
economic life has drawn more than its share of the talent of 
the nation. Consequently, for the most part, only second- 
rate men enter the field of politics, and many who enter the 
public service do so for private ends and in the very spirit 
in which they would engage in a profit-making enterprise. 
In direct contrast with the condition prevailing in certain 
other countries, the term “ politician” carries to most 
American ears a distinctly sordid connotation. Clearly, an 
education that does not place the highest premium on the 
life of the man or the woman who gives his energies un- 
selfishly in the service of the Republic falls far short of the 
needs of the time. Unless democracy can enlist a fair pro- 
portion of its finest capacity in the public service, such a 
form of government can be neither enlightened nor right- 
eous, and in the end cannot endure. 

How may the school develop respect for orderly methods? 
In the fourth place, the educational program must inculcate 
in the citizen the fixed disposition to rely upon orderly 
methods in the attainment of social and civic ends. In the 
United States, this objective is of especial importance, be- 


282 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


cause the American people are apparently possessed of a 
powerful strain for violence. Although we have been ex- 
perimenting with free institutions for almost a hundred and 
fifty years, we have not learned to place confidence in the 
orderly processes of law. ‘That we are an extraordinarily 
criminal people, is shown by the fact that, in the ordinary 
year, there are approximately as many homicides in either 
New York City or Chicago as in the whole of England, 
Scotland, and Wales. Racial antagonisms from time to 
time give rise to bloody conflicts in which millions of dol- 
Jars worth of property are destroyed, and men, women, and 
children are brutally killed. In many sections of the coun- 
try bands of “ respectable ”’ citizens, without any compunc- 
tions of conscience whatsoever, take the law into their own 
hands and, following some farcical legal procedure, flog, 
lynch, or burn their victims. Our industrial disturbances 
are frequently marked by a degree of violence that is seldom 
seen in other civilized countries. In recent years, persons 
and classes of high authority have connived at the open 
violation of law and the use of illegal force in their own 
interests. ‘They speciously argue that in destroying the 
law they preserve it. 

That this tendency toward mob behavior may be ex- 
plained in terms of the survival of frontier influences or the 
heterogeneity of our population is entirely beside the point. 
Whatever the cause, the situation is altogether deplor- 
able and requires the most serious educational attention. 
Vigorous measures must be introduced into the school and 
society for the purpose of instilling into the minds of our 
people a meet and proper respect for orderly methods of 
adjusting social conflict. 

How may the school impart precise civic information? 
In the fifth place, our youthful citizens must be informed 
concerning the more important problems and issues of con- 


CIVIC LIFE AND EDUCATION 283 


temporary social life. In a political democracy this is a 
basic need. Much of the conflict in the world to-day is due 
to failure at this point. The founders of free government, 
assuming that the masses of the people would know their 
own best interests and would elect officials to give these 
interests effect, believed that on important issues the voters 
would be essentially right. But experience has shown that 
public opinion can be trusted only if it is based on adequate 
and accurate information. With the growth of a complex 
society, and with the development of the press and agencies 
for propaganda, such an equipment has become a rare pos- 
session. One of the two great dangers threatening all mod- 
ern democracies, a leading publicist writes, is: 


ihe irresponsible power wielded by those who supply the people 
with the materials they need for judging men and measures. Dis- 
semination by the printed word of untruths and fallacies and incite- 
ments to violence which we have learnt to call propaganda has 
become a more potent influence among the masses in large coun- 
tries than the demagogue ever was in the small peoples of former 
days. ‘To combat these dangers more insight and sympathy, as 
well as more energy and patriotism, are needed than the so-called 
upper and educated classes have hitherto displayed. 


The same point is made by Lippmann when he suggests: ! 


that when full allowance has been made for deliberate fraud, 
political science has still to account for such facts as two nations 
attacking one another, each convinced that it is acting in self- 
defense, or two classes at war each certain that it speaks for the 
common interest. They live, we are likely to say, in different 
worlds. More accurately, they live in the same world, but they 
think and feel in different ones. 


Due to the operation of many forces the truth about 
events and issues is obscured, but the individual citizen, 
unconscious of the limitations under which he lives, naively 

1Lippmann, Walter: Public Opinion, p. 20. 


284: PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


assumes the perfect trustworthiness of his own picture of 
the world. 

If the school were to conceive its function aright, much 
could be done to bring relief to this condition. It should in 
the first instance inform its pupils concerning the nature 
of public opinion, the way in which it is formed, and the 
agencies at work upon it. Beyond that, with a degree of 
thoroughness adapted to the level of maturity and capacity 
of the individual, the school should take up in turn each 
large social issue and bring the student in touch with the 
information upon it suitable to his understanding. Hitherto 
we have been very meticulous in our concern over issues 
that have been dead for decades and even for centuries. 
We have demanded acquaintance with the fabled doings of 
fabled peoples. We have insisted that our children know 
all about the forces that brought Athens and Sparta into 
conflict, or that led to the murder of the Gracchi. While 
much can be learned from the distant past, our first con- 
sideration, following perhaps a general survey of human 
achievement, should be given to those matters about which 
conflict surges to-day. Our young people should be in- 
formed concerning the causes of poverty and crime, the 
forces that make for political corruption, the inefficiency of 
the administration of justice, the ways and means of con- 
trolling economic power in the interests of society, the con- 
flict between labor and capital that is shaking the founda- 
tions of western civilization, the working out of adjust- 
ments between races and classes and religious sects, and the 
abolition of war and imperialism. An indefensible policy is 
pursued when youth are permitted to assume the responsi- 
bilities of citizenship in relative ignorance of these ques- 
tions, or, what is even worse, in possession of a repertoire of 
prejudices, half-truths, and fallacies, nicely calculated to 
aggravate the evils under which the world now labors. 


CIVIC LIFE AND EDUCATION 285 


“How may the school cultivate a scientific civic temper? 
In the sixth place, effort must be made to cultivate a scien- 
tific temper in the field of social relations. It is not enough 
that we possess the findings of science. New problems are 
“constantly arising which, as they are attacked by the citi- 
zen, demand reliance on the methods and spirit of science. 
Each individual, to the limit of his capacity, should be 
taught to approach these social perplexities with the single 
minded desire to learn the truth. He should be freed, in so 
far as possible, from that dogmatic attitude toward social 
questions which now characterizes our society. Especially 
do the American people need to develop a tolerant attitude 
toward new ideas, for even the shrewdest of men will make 
mistakes in evaluating new and untried theories. Intelli- 
gence, not force, must test the validity of social ideas. 

The reception accorded creative thought in the realm of 
physics is thus contrasted by Bertrand Russell with its 
reception in the realm of social politics: ! 


We have had in recent years a brilliant example of the scien- 
tific temper of mind in the theory of relativity and its reception by 
the world. Einstein, a German-Swiss-Jew pacifist, was appointed 
to a research professorship by the German Government in the 
early days of the war; his predictions were verified by an English 
expedition which observed the eclipse of 1919, very soon after the 
armistice. His theory upset the whole theoretical framework of 
traditional physics; it is almost as damaging to orthodox dyna- 
mics as Darwin was to Genesis. Yet physicists everywhere have 
shown complete readiness to accept his theory as soon as it ap- 
peared that the evidence was in itsfavor. But none of them, least 
of all Einstein himself, would claim that he has said the last word. 
He has not built a monument of infallible dogma to stand for all 
time. There are difficulties he cannot solve; his doctrines will have 
to be modified in their turn as they have modified Newton’s. This 
critical undogmatic receptiveness is the true attitude of science. 

What would have happened if Einstein had advanced something 





1 Russell, Bertrand: Free Thought, pp. 16-19. 


286 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


equally new in the sphere of religion or politics? English people 
would have found elements of Prussianism in his theory; anti-. 
Semites would have regarded it as a Zionist plot; nationalists in all 
countries would have found it tainted with lily-livered pacifism, 
and proclaimed it a mere dodge for escaping military service. 
All the old-fashioned professors would have approached Scotland 
Yard to get the importation of his writings prohibited. Teachers 
favorable to him would have been dismissed. He, meantime, 
would have captured the government of some backward country, 
where it would have become illegal to teach anything except his 
doctrine, which would have grown into a mysterious dogma not 
understood by anybody. Ultimately the truth or falsehood of his 
doctrine would be decided on the battlefield, without the collection 
of any fresh evidence for or against it. 

While this statement is perhaps extreme and may seem 
to some a gross exaggeration, its sting resides in the fact 
that it contains so much of truth. It shocks because it is 
lucid and turns the light on areas commonly and protect- 
ingly shrouded in darkness. ‘There is thus revealed in its 
true form a social practice which is customarily clothed in 
the deceptive garments of respectability. As this quota- 
tion suggests, the scientific spirit has little in common with 
the methods that usually prevail in dealing with matters 
touching on the nature of man and his social relations. 
Here, slight indeed is the premium placed on the exercise of 
intelligence. We exhibit no hesitation about entertaining 
an unverifiable opinion or clinging to an unfounded preju- 
dice. In fact we feel duty-bound to defend it, and we show 
great industry in searching through our experience for 
reasons that will enable us to remain of unchanged mind. 
The individual who thus holds to his convictions in the face 
of the repeated assaults of fact, however carelessly these 
convictions may have been formed by himself or his an- 
cestors, is looked upon as having given evidence of charac- 
ter, and receives the social approval of his group. It is 
commonly regarded a commendable trait to present a 


CIVIC LIFE AND EDUCATION 287 


closed mind to the more important and difficult problems 
of life. The world to-day requires a new type of courage, 
the courage to observe and to think, and to use the results of 
observation and thought for further observing and thinking. 
The possibilities of improving our social life are probably 
without practical limit, but, so long as truth remains an 
unwelcome and despised intruder, the road to progress is 
barred. Advance, which is always difficult, is thus need- 
lessly obstructed. Another generation must be taught to 
seek enlightenment here and fittingly reward those who can 
illumine its forward path. Especially is this necessary 
to-day when, as General Smuts has said, ““ Humanity has 
struck its tents and is once more on the march.” Con- 
temporary civilization is seething with new and strange 
social ideas and doctrines. ‘Some of them contain much 
that will prove of value to mankind, while many hold noth- 
ing of worth for the race. But to distinguish truth from 
error is always difficult. It is never easy to measure in their 
germinal state the potentialities of strange forms of life. 
In a scientific temper our youth must learn to approach 
every contribution in this field. Without regard to the 
source from which it comes or its effect on some cherished 
but less serviceable notion, each social invention must be 
calmly evaluated in the light of the evidence. An effort 
must be made in our schools to cultivate the open mind, the 
mind that is eager for a continuous revelation, the mind 
that holds all conclusions more or less tentatively, the 
mind that remains ever youthful, inquiring, and hopeful. 
How may the school develop a broad social conscious- 
ness? In the seventh place, the development of a broad 
social consciousness must be promoted through the school. 
Improvements in transportation and communication have 
destroyed the barriers that formerly separated kin from kin, 
community from community, nation from nation, race from 


288 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


race. Almost within the span of a generation the whole 
world has been crowded into a single parish. In this parish 
must live all the races of mankind. Although the evidence 
from the late War indicates that, if they would dwell long 
upon the earth, they must dwell in peace, whether they will 
live together in peace or in conflict is to-day an unanswered 
question. The growth of man’s power for doing evil has 
marched hand in hand with his mastery over natural forces. 

Without exaggeration it may be said that he is to-day 
able to destroy himself, or to impoverish life to such a de- 
gree that he would not care to preserve it. But, as man is 
constituted to-day through training and education, we are 
forced to concede that he cannot be expected to live in peace 
with his neighbors. Either he does not want peace, or else he 
wants those things which are only compatible with war. By 
every virile race, war, the product of narrow minds and sel- 
fish interests, is glorified in song and story. Through this 
body of tradition, in which the figure of Mars all but reigns 
supreme, the imagination is led back, from generation to 
generation, to a legendary and mythical past. In our his- 
tories the hero of war is accorded the place of highest honor 
among those who have served the State. Love of country 
has ever been identified with willingness to follow the 
national flag with little regard to the cause in whose name 
it is raised. We question the patriotism of the man who 
loves peace and seeks to promote it, the man who strives to 
understand the point of view of another political, economic, 
or religious group. As Europe hung in the balance between 
war and peace in 1914, one of the most powerful figures on 
the continent making for peace was murdered. ‘The as- 
sassin was later acquitted in the national courts on the 
grounds of patriotic intent. An individual may be instru- 
mental in driving two nations into conflict and yet be 
lauded as a patriot, and even given the highest political 


CIVIC LIFE AND EDUCATION 289 


office with which his country can honor him. A politician 
can secure a large following by circulating the vilest of 
slanders regarding the motives of a neighboring people, and 
a journalist can build up a powerful paper by appealing 
to the narrowest of class, religious, and race prejudices. 

Our ignorance of the orientals is not so great to-day as it 
was in the Middle Ages, when scholars speculated on the 
character of the Antipodes, but it is much more prolific of 
harm. ‘Then whether one people understood another 
mattered little, because they were so completely separated 
by geographical barriers that at the very worst they could 
but engage in a war of brigandage or piracy. To-day all is 
changed. Yet we nurse our misconceptions and prejudices 
about other groups as fondly as the Medizval theologian 
cherished false notions about the stars and the planets. 
We are inclined to repeat the folly of the critics of Galileo 
who, in order that they might persist in their denial of the 
existence of Jupiter’s moons, steadfastly refused to place 
their beliefs in jeopardy by viewing the heavens through the 
telescope. 

All the facts indicate that as a people we possess an all 
too limited social consciousness. ‘The world of to-day is 
divided into races, nations, sects, classes, communities, and 
families. He who lives therein is not only a member of 
the small kinship group characteristic of primitive times; 
he is also a member of a local community, of a great nation, 
and, finally, of the human race. He must be made to feel 
genuine membership in the larger societies. ‘The parochial 
spirit must be expanded into a world spirit. We already 
recognize the immorality of the man who places the wel- 
fare of his family above the good of the community; but 
little imagination is required to see that it is just as im- 
moral to subordinate the interests of mankind to those of 
race or nation. Much of the unhappiness from which 


290 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


mankind suffers is due to the fact that the social conscious- 
ness of the ordinary citizen is not sufficiently broad to sub- 
sume the responsibilities that the wider citizenship involves. 
To a small group alone does he feel responsible, but his 
actions affect the welfare of millions. The criminal who 
robs that he may divide the loot with his gang, the politi- 
cian who seeks political office that he may give a city 
franchise to a friend, the manufacturer who exploits the 
children of others that he may transmit a fortune to his own, 
the teacher who misrepresents the actions of nations that 
he may inspire a love of country in the hearts of his pupils, 
the ecclesiastic who circulates half-truths regarding the 
beliefs of rival sects that he may enhance the prestige of his 
own denomination, the statesman who defends his country 
in its pursuit of a wrong course of action that he may kindle 
an unreflective loyalty, and the saint who would damn un- 
believers that he might advance his own doctrine — all are 
exhibiting a social consciousness that is too narrow to serve 
the larger needs of associative living. 

Can the school educate for world citizenship? In order 
that the school may make important contribution to the 
development of this broad social consciousness, in order 
that the pupil may be brought to feel some allegiance to 
groups other than those small groups into which he happens 
to be born, our educational program must be derived from 
fundamentally different principles. In the first place, the 
citizen of the Great Society must be given an impartial 
though sympathetic account of the history and achieve- 
ments of his own group, whether it be his family, his com- 
munity, his economic class, his religious sect, his nation, or 
his race. Every time virtues are exaggerated or vices con- 
doned, forces that lead to misunderstanding and conflict are 
certain to be generated. 

In the second place, having due regard for the limitations 


CIVIC LIFE AND EDUCATION 291 


set by capacity and the period of formal education, we must 
give him a similar account of other groups. It is the height 
of national unwisdom to permit our youth to grow into 
maturity with the perverted notions which they possess 
about other religions, other nations, and other races. They 
should be made eager to see, know, and understand their 
brothers and sisters brought up in strange lands and nur- 
tured in foreign cultures. They should be made to realize 
that modern civilization is not the product of the genius of 
any one people, but rather the fruit of the codperative and 
cumulative efforts of many peoples working through thou- 
sands of generations. Of those that have contributed in the 
past our knowledge is but fragmentary; of those that will 
contribute in the future nothing is known. 

In the third place, each member of society must be given 
an adequate appreciation of the supreme value of the works 
of peace and the relative futility of the resort to arms in 
advancing the genuine interests of the race. The heroes of 
war must be eclipsed by those less arresting figures who have 
made the positive contributions to civilization. Honor 
must be rendered where honor is due; especially must 
homage be paid to those who have promoted the more 
abundant life — the statesman, the reformer, the prophet, 
the teacher, the scientist, the inventor, the physician, the 
engineer, the organizer, the poet, the artist, the philosopher, 
the good workman, the delightful companion, and the wise 
parent. The activities and interests which all peoples hold 
in common must be emphasized. While recognizing in our 
histories the distinction between offensive and defensive 
wars, between wars of aggression and wars of liberation, 
we must place primary stress on the evolution of peaceful 
culture. Our citizens must see that this is the culture of 
true grandeur, the culture which offers unlimited opportu- 
nities for noble and heroic service. A spectacular heroism 


292 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


will meet the perils of war, but a steadfast heroism must 
meet the perils of peace. An educational program organ- 
ized in this larger spirit cannot fail to lead an increasing 
fraction of our people to that vision of the world and that 
feeling of true kinship with mankind which in the past have 
been vouchsafed only to the prophet. 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


1. Why can we not leave the solution of social problems to highly trained 
social engineers, as we leave the solution of mechanical problems to 
mechanical engineers? 

2. How has the growth of the Great Society made more necessary and 
at the same time more difficult the intimate feeling of social respon- 
sibility in the individual? 

3. How has the increased complexity of society made the incidental civic 
education gained through unguided participation in social life inade- 
quate? Evaluate, from the standpoint of civic responsibilities, the 
life of a savage, the life of a citizen in a city-state of Ancient Greece, 
and the life of a citizen in the metropolis of a modern industrial state. 

4. Were the schools of the past, when they took as their function the giv- 
ing of the tools of learning, correct in the assumption that the knowl- 
edge and interest in civic affairs would later be acquired by the 
individual in the normal process of living? 

5. What are the arguments for and against the common notion that the 
stability and perpetuation of democratic institutions depend, more 
than do the conservation of aristocratic institutions, on the uni- 
versal extension of education? 

6. What are the disadvantages to the individual and society which 
flow from the fact that the ordinary citizen accepts, as quite natural 
and inevitable, the prevailing conditions of social and national life? 

7. What are the fears entertained by those who object to giving to the 
student a genuinely progressive and evolutionary conception of the 
working of society? 

8. What radical changes would you expect to occur in the German sys- 
tem of education as a result of the democratic revolution? How 
should the formal education of a democracy differ from that found 
in an autocratic state? 

9. In the light of Dewey’s two criteria of a democratic society, criticize 
the typical school system from the standpoint of: (1) general control 
by society of the school; (2) relations between teachers and adminis- 
trators; (3) relations between teachers and pupils; and (4) relations 
among the pupils themselves. 


10. 


Hy 


12. 


13. 


14. 


15. 


16. 


1%, 


CIVIC LIFE AND EDUCATION 293 


How should the accessibility of political office in a democracy moti- 
vate interest in an active participation in and understanding of civic 
affairs? Why is there a tendency for educated and high-minded 
citizens to refuse to run for political office? 

How can the general spirit which animates American life and edu- 
cation be blamed for the disposition to rely on disorderly methods in 
the attainment of civic and social ends? 

Compare the better school with the better type of newspaper as an 
effective agency in acquainting the citizen with the more important 
problems of contemporary social life. 

To what extent has the teaching of American history and civics 
hindered the development of the spirit upon which harmonious inter- 
national relations depend? 

From the standpoint of achieving the objectives set forth in this 
section, what are the shortcomings of history and civics as taught in 
most schools? 

Why is there apparently a greater faith in the extra-curricular ac- 
tivities than in the formal curriculum of the school, in fostering the 
formation of those dispositions required in social life? In what way 
can the formal curriculum be made to take on the effectiveness 
of the extra-curriculum? 

Criticize the statement that it is impossible for the ordinary educa- 
tional institution, in treating controversial questions, to do more 
than reflect the effective opinion prevailing in the community. 

To what extent is the school responsible for the lack of interest ex- 
hibited by college students in social and political events? 


PROBLEM 16 


HOW MAY EDUCATION ENRICH THE RECREATIONAL 
LIFE? 


What is recreation? — What is the psychological significance of recreation? 
— What determines the value of a recreational activity? — How should 
the educational program be derived? — What is the dominant interest of 
modern life? — What is the character of American folk-life? — Is recrea- 
tion accorded a secure status in American life? — How has recreation been 
commercialized? — Is the recreational life in America superficial? — How 
have institutional changes modified the recreational problem? — What is 
the recreational problem of rural life? — What are the special recreational 
problems of urban life? — Can recreation be made to lend significance and 
beauty to the common activities of life? — What has been America’s 
contribution to the fine arts? — How may the school enrich the recreational 
life through the conventional formal curriculum? — What are the possi- 
bilities in the extra-curriculum? — What changes are essential to the 
inauguration of this program? — What is the wider opportunity of the 
school? 

What is recreation? Even under the most primitive con- 
ditions of existence the whole of man’s time and energy is 
not consumed in those activities directly related to the 
maintenance of life and the satisfaction of family, eco- 
nomic, civic, and religious interests. After these needs 
are met a margin of leisure remains. In periods of plenty 
the savage may have opportunity for giving expression to 
those impulses which but lightly condition existence; and 
during the inclement seasons, when the ordinary routine of 
life is suspended, he may turn his mind to the pursuit of 
congenial interests. In these moments of leisure man may 
elaborate the common life and weave into it meanings and 
appreciations which are not derived from external necessity. 
Thus grow up in the life of every group the recreational 


arts — songs, stories, games, dances, ceremonials, and 


RECREATIONAL LIFE AND EDUCATION 295 


festivals. Among the earliest of human records are the 
crude drawings of animals scratched on the fragments of 
bones, or painted on the walls of caves. These were the 
diversions of the primitive huntsman as in moments of 
leisure he relived in imagination some exciting adventure 
of the chase or contemplated the thrills of future exploits. 
Through activity as well as through rest the re-creation of 
life proceeds. 

What is the place of recreation in life? ‘The place and 
function of these recreational activities in the general 
economy of life require careful consideration. The primary 
object of recreation is not the promotion of health. Neither 
is it to be regarded as an appendage to the economic, the 
family, the civic, or the religious life. It must not be con- 
fused with those activities whose main object is to bring 
about some definite and pre-determined change in the ex- 
ternal world, although it may be associated with and grow 
out of such activities. Its function is not instrumental. A 
recreational activity is a genuinely leisure activity, an 
activity in which one engages without thought of reward, 
either in this world or in the next. But since the word 
leisure frequently carries too wide a connotation, it must be 
used with caution. Leisure is often contrasted with eco- 
nomic labor, and thus uncritically made to embrace all 
activities that are not directly related to gaining a liveli- 
hood. When used in this way it includes many health, 
family, civic, and religious interests which naturally cannot 
be followed during the hours devoted to the pursuit of voca- 
tion. They represent duties, however, that must be per- 
formed; responsibilities that should no more be escaped 
than those centering in the economic life. Regardless of 
convenience or inclination, a definite time should be al- 
lotted to their performance. The essence of recreation, on 
the other hand, is freedom. One does not engage therein 


296 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


from a sense of duty, but rather for the sake of the activity 
itself. This, of course, does not mean that recreation may 
not promote health or further the social life in its various 
aspects. Much less does it mean that the non-recreational 
activities must always be entered into either under external 
compulsion or from a self-imposed feeling of obligation. 
The point to be distinctly understood is merely that recrea- 
tion is not ancillary to any other interest whatsoever. It 
must always enjoy an independent status. 

What is the relation between play and work? ‘The line 
between recreational and other activities, however, cannot 
be rigidly drawn, because by imperceptible gradations the 
one type of activity shades off into the other. Recreation 
may incidentally advance every legitimate human interest; 
and, in the measure that its own special purpose is not 
sacrificed, this is desirable. Likewise those activities which 
are directed towards the modification of some aspect of the 
environment may contain a large element of freedom. 
This also is much to be coveted. In all departments where 
the operation of external and arbitrary authority is reduced 
to a minimum, activity partakes of the nature of recreation. 
This is often true of the promotion of health and the foster- 
- ing of the family, civic, and religious interests. 

Even in the field of vocations there are many cases where, 
because the individual expresses himself fully in his calling, 
work becomes identified with play. But this is the excep- 
tion to-day. For the great majority of men the gulf that 
separates vocation from recreation is so great that the two 
have little n common. This unfortunate state of affairs is 
due in part to an economic system in which the individual 
workman is a means to production, in part to an education 
that exalts routine over freedom, in part to a native endow- 
ment that limits the powers of appreciation, and in part to 
tbe conditions imposed on mankind by natural forces. 


RECREATIONAL LIFE AND EDUCATION 297 


Happy indeed is the individual whose vocation gives ex- 
pression to a wide range of impulses and thus satisfies the 
craving for recreation. The ideal of a social order in which 
work will continuously re-create rather than exhaust the 
life forces of the population should be constantly before us. 
But the immediately practical problem in the world as we 
know it, is that of equipping the individual to supplement 
his hours of labor with a rich recreational life. 

What is the psychological significance of recreation? 
While recreation requires no justification in terms of the 
other great goods of life, the use to which man puts his 
leisure time must always be of great significance. Says 
Dewey:' 


Play and art are moral necessities. They are required to take 
care of the margin that exists between the total stock of impulses 
that demand outlet and the amount expended in regular action. 
They keep the balance which work cannot indefinitely maintain. 
They are required to introduce variety, flexibility, and sensitive- 
ness into disposition. 


Recreation promotes a wholesome development of the 
capacities and functions; it prolongs the period of youth by 
creating the conditions necessary for both physical and 
mental health; it serves as a tonic to the organism by add- 
ing to the zest of living; and above all it lends color and 
sweetness and beauty to life. Since recreation takes place 
under the conditions of freedom, it provides opportunity for 
the manifold expression of personality; and, all constraining 
influences being relatively absent, the self is permitted to 
develop according to the laws of its own being and in re- 
sponse to its own potentialities. 

It is for this reason that art sustains such an intimate 
relation to the recreational life. The conditions of recrea- 
tion are in large measure the conditions of art. When man 


1 Dewcy, John: Human Nature and Conduct, p. 160. 


298 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


plays he becomes an artist. This suggests the great educa- 
tional significance of recreation; in play the inhibitions are 
cast aside, the spirit is exalted, attention is undivided, and 
the individual loses himself in the activity. Hence the 
modification of the organism, the formation of habit, the 
growth of disposition, the process of education advances at 
the maximum rate. To a peculiar degree, therefore, what 
man does in his leisure hours shapes his personality and 
moulds his character. 

What activities are re-creative? Recreation cannot be 
identified with any particular type of activity. It has as- 
sumed multitudinous forms among various peoples and at 
different times in human history. To-day its form changes 
with individual and with circumstance. Indeed, the possi- 
bilities of recreation are almost as numerous and as varied 
as the number and variety of human impulses and activi- 
ties. A canvass of the population in an American com- 
munity would reveal a diversity of leisure activities, the 
mere listing of a few of which will try the patience of the 
reader. Many would be found attending social gatherings, 
going to the theater, appreciating music, watching athletic 
contests, reading newspapers and fiction, and engaging in 
out-of-door sports. Others would be employing their spare 
time in visiting museums, collecting stamps, motoring into 
the country, hunting rabbits, gambling in stock, “ shooting 
craps,” making extended vacation trips, walking in the 
parks, swimming in the pools, playing billiards, retailing 
community gossip, going on picnics, making home-brew, 
writing books, discussing the failings of other people’s chil- 
dren, lying in the sunshine, flirting with the other sex, en- 
joying the companionship of friends, quarrelling with neigh- 
bors, writing letters, adorning the person, window shopping, 
experimenting with radio, playing cards, attending teas and 
dinners, using carpenter’s tools, smoking tobacco, painting 


RECREATIONAL LIFE AND EDUCATION 299 


china, “ bossing ” servants, dozing in chairs, studying birds, 
reading philosophy, indulging in daydreams, collecting bot- 
tles, visiting the poor, tinkering with machinery, making gar- 
dens, or spinning theories of education. 

Some of these activities are primarily intellectual, others 
contain a large esthetic element, others are essentially 
social, others emphasize the physical, and yet others are 
avocational. The assignment of relative values to these 
activities is most difficult. Of course, those which are 
clearly anti-social or harmful to the individual merit no 
support. Others which, besides being worth while in them- 
selves, contribute to health or advance some important 
social interest, may be argued to possess greater worth than 
those which do not perform these added functions. But in 
the passing of such judgments care must be taken lest the 
recreational life be subordinated to other concerns. 

What determines the value of a recreational activity? 
Disregarding any instrumental value which a recreational 
activity may have, let us now return to the basic question: 
Apart from differences in intensity is one type of enjoy- 
ment better, or nobler, or finer, or more worthy than 
another? For example, is the satisfaction that comes from 
the appreciation of grand opera of a higher order than that 
which accompanies attendance at a wrestling match? ‘The 
common answer is an affirmative one. Although the case 
is not quite so clear as it appears, with this answer the 
writers are in agreement. 

The superior position which is so readily accorded grand 
opera by the uncritical is largely a product of tradition. It 
is to be explained in no small measure by historical accident. 
Grand opera has somewhat better social connections and 
carries greater respectability than wrestling. The appre- 
ciation of the former, since its development requires careful 
and sustained cultivation as well as generous financial sup- 


300 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


port, is a more difficult form of satisfaction to secure. 
Consequently its acquisition has been largely restricted to 
the classes of leisure and means, and has come to reflect the 
prestige of these classes. On the other hand, most people, 
regardless of ancestry, experience, or education, have no 
difficulty in appreciating a wrestling match. The enjoy- 
ment of this amusement, with all similar forms of apprecia- 
tion, being derived rather directly from certain powerful 
inborn tendencies, is primitive. In so far as the recreations 
of a people are of this relatively unlearned type that people 
is under-developed and is ill-prepared for a life of leisure. 
But this in itself is not a serious criticism of the enjoyment 
involved in the watching of a wrestling match, nor does it 
elevate the appreciation of grand opera to a superior status. 
A particular leisure interest might be very difficult to ac- 
quire, and even sanctified by an intimate association with 
aristocracy, and yet be tedious and unproductive of genuine 
satisfactions. We must therefore seek elsewhere for the 
test whereby the relative value of a recreational activity 
may be measured. 

If grand opera deserves a higher rank than wrestling, and 
we believe it does, it is because, in the majority of cases, 
grand opera offers to the individual a wider range for the 
development of interest and because its potentialities for 
future and varied satisfactions are without practical limit. 
In our schools efforts should be centered on those forms of 
recreation that show some promise of a long and varied 
growth, and that at the same time are dependent for their 
enjoyment on an educational training which can be eco- 
nomically given. 

What has been the attitude of the school towards recrea- 
tion? In the past the public school has either assumed that 
the recreational needs of the population are adequately 
cared for through the incidental education of the home and 


RECREATIONAL LIFE AND EDUCATION 301 


the community, or that play is an unimportant part of life. 
Our elementary education, greatly influenced in its origins 
by a narrow religious conception, carries a tradition which 
is hostile to recreation. Moreover the curriculum of this 
institution, designed to meet the educational requirements 
of the common people, was reduced to that barest minimum 
which was thought essential to the successful performance 
of the simpler economic and political functions. The life 
for which this school was supposed to prepare was harsh, 
impoverished, and bereft of leisure. The conventional 
secondary and higher education, though planned to fit into 
the life of the privileged and favored classes, has also 
neglected the recreational interests. Dominated from the 
first by a narrow scholastic tradition, it has been reluctant 
to grapple with the problems of human society. Hence the 
program for enriching the recreational life, in both the lower 
and the higher schools, is as yet very imperfectly developed. 

How should the educational program be derived? ‘The 
nature of the educational program required must be de- 
termined by a careful study of human nature in its present 
social situation. Hence it will be necessary to consider the 
current status of the recreational life in our own country 
before making the more concrete educational proposals. 
A program borrowed from some other country or some other 
age cannot be expected to function in modern America. 
And, since the minor characteristics of the situation shift 
from community to community, the program for a particu- 
lar school must be developed in response to local needs and 
shortcomings. Owing to the limitations of space, the dis- 
cussion here will be confined to the most general analysis of 
the existing leisure activities. Only the more significant 
facts pertaining to the recreational life in the United States, 
facts not to be disregarded in the construction of the edu- 
cational program, can be noted. Attention will be directed; 


302 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


in the first place, to certain features that generally charac 
terize the recreational life in America; in the second place, 
to conditions that are peculiar to the rural community; and, 
finally, to some special problems that are appearing in 
urban and industrial centers. ‘This survey, by conveying 
to the reader some conception of both the magnitude and 
the diversity of the task, will make clear the nature and the 
extent of the educational program required. 

What is the dominant interest of modern life? Before 
considering those conditions of recreation which are pe- 
culiar to American life, it will be well to note certain general 
characteristics of that modern civilization of which our own 
culture is a part, and of which it is at the same time a 
peculiarly extreme expression. Each civilization has had 
its marked characteristics. As Ferrero has remarked: 


Every epoch directs all its efforts towards a supreme goal, 
which for it is the all-important one. There have been epochs 
ablaze with religious fervor, whose chief aspiration it was to diffuse 
and to defend the faith. There have been epochs with a profound 
sense of the ambition for glory, which fought great wars. Others 
again have turned their attention to the fostering of the arts and 
sciences. Our civilization aims, in the first place, at the mastery 
over nature, and the intensive exploitation of all the riches of the 
earth. 


That this is the controlling purpose of our age, few will 
deny; and likewise, that within limits this purpose may 
legitimately enlist the energies of any people, all will agree. 
But our relatively complete absorption in the production 
and exchange of material goods will seem extravagant to 
the critic of a later generation. Into the task of making the 
world beautiful, of making life sweet and agreeable to those 
who live it, but little of our energy is directed. ‘‘ So feverish 
and yet so mechanical, so interesting and yet so unlovely,” 


1 Ferrero, G.: Ancient Rome and Modern America, p. 171. 


RECREATIONAL LIFE AND EDUCATION 303 


the age in which we live subordinates living to the process 
of gaining a livelihood, regards artistic creation as a super- 
fluous frivolity, and considers industry, commerce, inven- 
tions, and wealth the only serious occupations of men. 

How is quality sacrificed to quantity? ‘The reward for 
our great interest in extending the dominion of man over 
the forces of the natural world has been an abundance of 
the material goods of life which surpasses the wildest 
dreams of earlier ages. But for the moment, at least, 
quantity has been secured at the sacrifice of quality. We 
are insensitive to beauty and, whether in the building of a 
city, the exploitation of forests, or the selling of drugs, the 
demands of commercial enterprise override zsthetic con- 
siderations. Borrowing again from Ferrero: ! 


The artistic mediocrity of our epoch is surpassed only by the 
superficiality and confusion of its tastes. Each succeeding year 
sees that which used to appear the height of elegance and beauty 
to its predecessors, despised, neglected, and forgotten. All the 
styles of the past and all the styles of the different countries swirl 
around us, before the fickle gusts of fashion. Every picture which 
excites admiration for a moment is quickly forgotten by the fickle 
taste of an age which ransacks every corner in search of the beauti- 
ful, because nowhere can the beautiful be found. . . . Nobody can 
explain how it happens that so rich, so wise, and so powerful a 
civilization does not succeed in being beautiful, and shows itself 
powerless to infuse a breath of beauty into anything it creates, be 
it big or little, into its cities or into the small objects of daily use. . . . 
Our age produces in great quantities, but maybe not a single one 
of the buildings and material objects produced by it in such 
abundance can hope to conquer the ages. Everything is precari- 
ous, ephemeral, destined to live a few months or a few years; 
destined to a premature death from the very first hour of its birth.” 


How does the competitive spirit make excessive demands 
on human energies? As de Coubertin has so forcefully 
pointed out, the modern world is a restless and fitful world, 


1 Ferrero, G.: Ancient Rome and Modern America, pp. 52-55. 


304 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


a world of flux and of change. Nothing is stable and secure; 
all is uncertain and provisional. The development of rapid 
means of transportation has made of man an essentially 
mobile creature, and the equalization of opportunity has 
made possible the rapid rise to power and fortune. Both 
geographical and social barriers which formerly limited the 
actions of men have been swept away. In social position, 
as well as in space, an individual may proceed far from the 
place of his birth. Hence the appetites and ambitions of the 
masses have been excited to a point unknown in the past. 
At any moment of time man may either fear or hope every- 
thing. Both failure and success are ever-present possibili- 
ties which lend power to the competitive spirit, and hold the 
mind in a condition of continuous excitation. So rapidly do 
conditions change, and so often are opportunities altered, 
that modern society is in a “ state of incessant ebullition.” 

All of this puts a strain on personality which was not 
known to earlier civilizations. The individual, caught up 
in the overmastering whirl of uncontrolled events, is so 
pushed and driven by circumstance that his obligations 
always exceed his capacity. Consequently, in facing the 
daily task his state of mind is not unlike that of an impe- 
cunious debtor awaiting the visits of his creditors. Tc him 
is perpetually denied that “divine ambrosia ” which has 
been man’s source of strength in ages past — healthy sleep 
and peace of mind. For the excessive demands made on the 
menial energies of men by the cruel uncertainties of the 
future and the savage competition for success, compensa- 
tion is sought in some form of equally stimulating diversion 
which will momentarily induce a sweet forgetfulness of the 
world of serious things. ‘Thus to the long list of factors 
which produce strain and exhaustion, which dissipate the 
life forces of the population, are added the pursuits of 
leisure hours. 


RECREATIONAL LIFE AND EDUCATION 305 


What is the character of American folk-life? From a 
consideration of modern civilization in its more general 
aspects, attention may now be directed to the special form 
which it takes in the new world. Perhaps the most out- 
standing feature of recreation in the United States is the 
relative absence of that rich folk-life which is characteristic 
of the older civilizations. There is a cultural barrenness 
about the American community that challenges attention. 
It is this spiritual poverty that has called forth from the 
adverse foreign critic the unflattering comment that Amer- 
ica lacks a soul. While such a wide judgment can hardly 
be passed on any age or people with justice, since the precise 
meaning of soul is somewhat obscure and reflects the bias 
of him who uses the term, this estimate only too obviously 
contains a painful sting of truth. 

Whether one goes to the great metropolis with its teem- 
ing population and its frenzied haste, or to the rural hamlet 
with its broader spaces and more measured tread, the same 
fundamental deficiency is apparent. In the former, to be 
sure, the leisure hours are crowded with activity; but the 
character of this activity reveals more clearly than does the 
colorless tedium of the village the cultural immaturity of 
our people. In the superficial, vulgar, hurried, and ex- 
hausting diversions which abound in the urban center, there 
is reflected no artistic heritage that has grown out of the life 
of the folk. Rather are they the product of commercial 
enterprise bent on deriving a profit from amusing an har- 
assed population. 

Why is American folk-life barren? ‘The more important 
reascns for the relative absence of a folk-life in the United 
States are not difficult to discover. The fundamental ex- 
planation lies in the fact that America is a new country, 
settled under circumstances that are somewhat unique in 
the history of the world. Our population has been drawn 


306 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


from all the nations of Europe, and in some measure from 
all the races of mankind. But the significant point is that 
America has been peopled, not by clans or tribes, as the 
great land areas in the past were settled, but by individuals 
who, dissatisfied with conditions in the homeland, decided 
to try their fortunes in the new world. Only very rarely 
have communities or organized groups migrated to America. 
Hence the cultural tradition has usually been broken, and 
the efforts to reconstitute the folk-life of the old world in the 
new have met with but little success. Even where immi- 
grants have settled in distinct quarters in our great cities, 
and have enjoyed conditions somewhat favorable to the 
maintenance of a degree of cultural unity, through the work 
of the public school and the influence of other contacts the 
second generation usually drifts away from parental control, 
and comes to despise those elements of the foreign culture 
which mark its own people off from the native population. 
Being unable to distinguish the good from the bad in the 
culture of other peoples and unconscious of our own cul- 
tural deficiency, we have unwittingly encouraged this proc- 
ess and have even called it Americanization. 

This unenlightened form of Americanization is well il- 
lustrated by Lippmann’s description of a pageant, which a 
friend of his attended: ! 


It was called the Melting Pot, and it was given on the Fourth of 
July in an automobile town where many foreign-born workers are 
employed. In the center of the baseball park at second hase stood 
_ a huge wooden and canvas pot. ‘There were flights of steps up to 
the rim on two sides. After the audience had settled itself, and 
the band had played, a procession came through an opening at one 
side of the field. It was made up of men of all the foreign nation- 
alities employed in the factories. They wore their native costumes; 
they were singing their aational songs; they danced their folk 
dances, and carried the banners of all Europe. The master of 


——— 





i Lippmann, Walter: Public Opinion, pp. 86-87. 


RECREATIONAL LIFE AND EDUCATION 307 


ceremonies was the principal of the grade school dressed as Uncle 
Sam. He led them tothe pot. He directed them up the steps to 
the rim and inside. He called them out again on the other side. 
They came, dressed in derby hats, coats, pants, vest, stiff collar 
and polkadot tie, undoubtedly, said my friend, each with an 
Eversharp pencil in his pocket, and all singing the Star-Spangled 
Banner. 


Poverty stricken though our own spiritual possessions are 
at some points, we have taken them as the criterion of ex- 
cellence and have required the immigrant to conform. As 
a consequence we have cut ourselves adrift from the achieve- 
ments of the past and have banished from the life of the folk 
that warmth and beauty which enrich the cultures of other 
peoples. 

Other important factors, however, have contributed to 
this defect in our civilization. Various religious and eco- 
nomic forces have left their mark on American culture. 
The austere influence of Puritanism, with its belief in the 
righteousness of a barren emotional life, as reflected in the 
absence of ritual, and the sternness of its social discipline, 
has hindered the development of normal recreational in- 
terests. Indeed it has often driven this life into subterra- 
nean channels and into the hands of the less scrupulous and 
more vicious elements of the community. With the devel- 
opment of our civilization and the advent of a commercial 
age, this cramping tradition of religious origin, forming an 
alliance with the growing economic and industrial forces, 
has accentuated that subordination of the more humane to 
the more material interests of men which generally char- 
acterizes the modern world. 

This tradition has also been reénforced by the influence of 
the frontier on American life. Before the appearance of 
modern means of transportation and communication the 
wide reaches of a great continent separated man from man 


308 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


and family from family. A life of comparative isolation, 
fraught with danger and hardship, was thus substituted for 
the more compact and secure life of the old country. ‘The 
frontier made difficult, if not impossible, the perpetuation of 
customs and traditions that had grown out of a mode of 
living in which groups of men lived together and enjoyed a 
common life. This tendency towards isolation was per- 
haps fostered by the famous Homestead Act which, though 
admirable in so many respects, added to the difficulties 
attending the development and organization of social in- 
terests. Furthermore, the constant westward trend of the 
population until the close of the nineteenth century, to the 
fertile lands of the Mississippi and beyond, increased the 
instability of the family and the community. Each genera- 
tion in the East would send its quota of youth to found new 
homes and cities and States in the West. Thus the line by 
which traditions descend from age to age was broken again 
and again. 

Finally, should be noted the operation of those basic 
forces which were generated in the process of gaining eco- 
nomic mastery of an undeveloped continent. To-day the 
severity of that primitive struggle with savages, forests, 
great distances, mountains, rivers, and soil cannot be fully 
appreciated; but its ineffaceable mark has been stamped on 
American life and culture. There was little leisure for the 
men and women of that day. The age of the pioneer was 
an age of unremitting toil, the strain of toil was cruelly ex- 
hausting, and the hours of toil were long. Into this great 
task of subduing a continent the energies of our people have 
necessarily been poured. A splendid material civilization 
has resulted, but this achievement has been attended by 
certain spiritual sacrifices. 

Is recreation accorded a secure status in American life? 
The American people have not learned to play. Life is 


RECREATIONAL LIFE AND EDUCATION 309 


organized about other interests, and from these its standards 
of value are derived. Because of the relative absence of 
contrary traditions, the logic of modern civilization has 
come to dominate existence in the United States more than 
in the countries of the old world. So obsessed are the men 
of to-day “ by the frenzy of work ” that they no longer have 
time to live. Play is often regarded as childish and as hay- 
ing an insecure place in the adult economy. Hence the 
adult feels that he must defend every lapse into childhood 
in terms of some good which his companions will recognize 
as legitimate. The professional man, for example, if he 
plays golf, passes an hour in a social gathering, attends the 
theater, or reads poetry, thinks he must justify what may 
be considered a form of dissipation by maintaining that his 
health requires the golf, that his personal success is fur- 
thered by the social gathering, that he draws a moral from 
the play, or that his mind is improved by the poetry. In 
thus curiously rationalizing his conduct he preserves his re- 
spectability, obeys the conventional American code, and at 
the same time gives expression to his play interests. Ina 
world that requires the healing effects of recreative play 
more than any world of the past, play is not welcome. 
Yet only play can serve as “a balancing force, a counter- 
‘poise to the intellectual excesses of a sedentary, nervous 
civilization which is agitated by a perpetual excitement.” 

How has recreation been commercialized? Another 
serious defect in our recreational life is our relative inability 
to amuse ourselves. We are, moreover, even exhibiting a 
tendency to lose what small capacity we possess in this 
direction. In the absence of some specialist on whom we 
can depend for entertainment, we are helpless. An English 
writer, describing conditions in his own country before the 
War, says: } 

1 Welton, J.: The Psychology of Education, pp. 487-88. 


310 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


Every class in this country has lost the habit of amusing itself 
artistically. ‘The poor as well as the rich look to professionals to 
amuse them, and have a profound distrust of their own artistic 
powers and a false shame in exercising them. The artist, whether 
actor, musician, or dancer, is regarded as a peculiar person, half 
admired and half despised. He is not, as he once was, merely a 
man who can do what everyone does, only better. He is a pro- 
fessional entertainer with mysterious powers oi his own, which 
ordinary people do not share and cannot understand; and they 
would think it indecent presumption to attempt to compete with 
him. 


If this is a sound characterization of England, how much 
more so it must be of the United States, where the com- 
mercialization of amusements has been carried farther than 
in any other country. The American family, since its 
members lack the powers of recreational self-direction, 
looks forward with little zest to an evening spent at home. 
The movie theater, the café, the dance hall, and the skating 
rink all exist that this stram may not be put on family life! 
Both parents and children have little interest in artistic 
creation, they know how to play but few games, they have 
very limited powers of conversation, they are poor com- 
panions. Incidentally it may be noted that, without ap- 
preciably increasing its satisfactions, this helplessness adds 
greatly to the cost of living. The school could hardly render 
a more welcome or valued service than that of increasing 
the competence of the individual in the field of self amuse- 
ment. 

Is the recreational life in America superficial? Recrea- 
tion in America is not only expensive; in large measure its 
appeal is primitive and superficial. This is due in part to 
the commercialization of amusements and in part to the 
undeveloped character of our people in the realm of recrea- 
tional interests. Where well-developed standards of artis- 
tic appreciation are lacking, satisfaction must come from 


RECREATIONAL LIFE AND EDUCATION 311 


variety. A superficial but transitory interest in the new, 
whether in the field of industrial products or in that of 
musical creation, is characteristic of American life. The 
entrepreneur in theatrical enterprises, interested naturally 
in increasing his profits, seeks a production that makes a 
wide appeal; and, since his prospective patrons are unedu- 
cated for dramatic appreciation, he relies with success on 
the presentation of some simple and melodramatic story 
based upon adventure, sex, tragedy, and mystery. Goethe 
must have had a premonition of one of our peculiarly 
American theatrical products, the revue, when he thus 
satirized the dramatist: 

But above all, give them enough of action; - 

He who gives most, will give most satisfaction; 

They come to see a show — no work whatever, 

Unless it be a show, can win their favor: 

Therefore, by their taste be thou admonished, 

Weave brilliant scenes to captivate their eyes: 

Let them but stare and gape, and be astonished, 

Soon as a dramatist your fame will rise. 

A show is what they want; they love and pay for it; 


Spite of its serious parts, sit through a play for it; 
And he who gives one is a certain favorite. 


America is peculiarly the land of the cinema, the local 
chautauqua, the athletic spectacle, and the circus. Our 
interest as spectators in athletic contests of every descrip- 
tion, from throwing horseshoes to prize-fighting, would be 
difficult to duplicate in any other civilized country. But 
neither primitiveness nor superficiality is to be condemned. 
There must be no mistake about this point. No absolute 
condemnation is placed on these lower forms of recreation. 
Rather it is the over-emphasis which they receive in con- 
temporary American life that merits criticism. These in- 
terests are good, but they are not enough. Nevertheless, 
only through them can the elevation and refinement of 
taste be promoted. ‘They are the medium through which 


312 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


the present is transformed into the future. From them the 
educational program must take its point of departure and 
derive its vitality. Recreationally we are undeveloped; 
but, if our educational institutions genuinely concern them- 
selves with the problem and codperate with other agencies 
in its solution, these primitive and superficial activities 
may be instrumental in leading us to a higher type of recrea- 
tion. If the schools fail to make this contact with reality, 
they will contribute nothing to the improvement of stand- 
ards of appreciation. 

How have institutional changes modified the recreational 
problem? ‘The changed condition of certain institutions, 
which in the past have made valuable contributions to the 
recreational life, has added to the task of the school. At 
least in many districts, the hold of the church on the popula- 
tion has weakened. While the primary function of the 
church is religious, this institution has always been a center 
of recreation. Even under the reign of Puritanism the 
church was a center for social gatherings, a place where 
people met from week to week to worship God together. 
Among other sects the camp meeting, a religious festival of 
a primitive type, undoubtedly served to brighten the barren 
stretches of a pioneering existence. While not to be likened 
to the coming of a circus, it served in some measure the 
same functions. The saloon also has practically disap- 
peared, and its decease was extraordinarily sudden and 
unexpected. Whatever the evils associated with this in- 
stitution, and they were many, in the life of the American 
workman it satisfied cravings in addition to those for 
liquor. 

The home likewise, as we have observed repeatedly, has 
been undergoing a process of disorganization since the ad- 
vent of the industrial revolution. In many parts of the 
country, and especially in the industrial centers, the family 


RECREATIONAL LIFE AND EDUCATION 313 


has ceased to exist as a stable social unit. It is therefore no 
longer a natural center for the expression of leisure interests. 
This situation has been somewhat aggravated by the re- 
duced birth rate, which limits the possibilities for pleasant 
and agreeable companionship within the home. Where a 
family of ten is recreationally self-sufficient, the family of 
three, or four, or five is dependent. The commercial inter- 
ests have been quick to take advantage of these social 
changes, but education has made no corresponding advance. 
What is the recreational problem of rural life? Passing 
from the examination of the general social situation in the 
United States, we may now consider in turn the special 
problems of rural and urban life. In that radical recon- 
struction of rural civilization which is one of the most 
urgent needs of our time, the enrichment of the recreational 
life must play a leading réle. The rapid drift of population 
to the cities in the last half century has caused alarm in the 
minds of many thoughtful citizens. This increase of the 
city at the expense of the country, however, provided the 
population which remains on the farms is not negatively 
selected, should give rise to no uneasiness. The growth of 
cities has been the inevitable product of improved agri- 
cultural production, the industrial revolution, and inven- 
tions in the realm of transportation and communication. 
There is much evidence, though, to indicate that a process 
of negative selection is going on, and that the more vigorous 
and talented strains of the population are being attracted to 
the cities. The significant fact to be noted here is that the 
recreational poverty of rural life is a very important factor 
in producing this result. The ambitious and gifted indi- 
vidual, dissatisfied, either for himself or his children, with 
the cultural barrenness of the farm, moves to the city. A 
rural education that places its attention exclusively on 
improving the economic side of farm life can only hasten 


314 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


this depletion of the rural stock. It is not wholly without 
significance that tenancy is extraordinarily high in certain 
of our richest agricultural States. This means that the 
economically successful farmer leaves the land to live in 
town or city and rents his holding to a tenant. Where a 
farm can support two families, it frequently supports one 
in absentia. 'To youth rural life must be made attractive 
and humane, if a virile population is to be held on the land. 
The agricultural community must become a pleasant place 
in which to live. The achievement of this end is one of the 
fundamental tasks of rural education. 

What are the special recreational problems of urban life? 
Our great industrial and urban centers have problems of the 
recreational life that are peculiarly their own. Hand in 
hand with the growth of the factory system and the differ- 
entiation of processes there have come an increased monot- 
ony of labor and a shortened working day. Even in the 
steel industry, long the stronghold of reactionary forces, 
steps have recently been taken to adopt the eight-hour day. 
These two changes, the monotony of labor and the reduced 
hours of toil, are closely related, the one perhaps being in 
part the cause of the other; and they both have important 
educational implications. Perhaps we may look forward in 
the more or less remote future to an economic life so ordered 
as to make the work of production interesting and meaning- 
ful to all who participate in it. Towards such an ideal we 
should strive, but in the mean time we cannot shirk the 
responsibility of equipping the population for a wise and 
temperate use of leisure hours. If the joy of living is to be 
preserved at all under the conditions of modern industrial 
organization, with its regimentation and mechanization of 
the workers, it must be preserved through a rich and abun- 
dant recreational life. Our industrial populations must be 
taught to play. This alone can insure for the routine worker 


RECREATIONAL LIFE AND EDUCATION 315 


those experiences which give life significance, experiences to 
which every individual has an inherent right. 

The educator should do more than haltingly apply a 
remedy for the temporary relief of an intolerable condition. 
He should recognize, in the reduced hours of labor, an op- 
portunity for launching a recreational program that would 
change the whole aspect and order of life. At present, 
great masses of the population are but ill-equipped to use 
with profit, either to themselves or to society, the increased 
leisure which through bitter struggle they have won for 
themselves. ‘They therefore become the victims of a sys- 
tem of commercialized amusements in which the appeal, if 
not actually vicious, is frequently primitive and unpro- 
ductive of personal growth. ‘Through the development of 
the play life and the refinement of our esthetic sensibilities 
the current system of values might conceivably be sub- 
jected to critical reappraisal. A new rating might be placed 
on the accepted notions of success; the gold standard for 
measuring all values might be found inadequate; the push 
and pull of contemporary life might be moderated; our 
cities, homes, factories, and industrial products might be 
required to take on a certain beauty; quality as well as 
quantity might find a secure place in our folkways; bigger 
might no longer be regarded as synonymous with better; and 
the creative impulses might be exalted over the acquisitive 
and possessive tendencies. The leaven appearing first in 
recreation might work itself into and transform the economic 
life. 

Can recreation be made to lend significance and beauty 
to the common activities of life? If recreation is to become 
this leavening force, it must maintain a close connection 
with the rest of life. Normally, play and art, while freeing 
men from the limitations placed on desire by the dictates of 
utility, nevertheless glorify, idealize, beautify, and make 


316 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


significant all the great interests of mankind — love, in- 
dustry, politics, war, religion. ‘They have always drawn 
the outlines of a finer world, but a world projected from the 
one men know. ‘To-day recreation is constructing an 
isolated world of its own to which individuals go in order to 
escape the tedium, monotony, and strain of ordinary ex- 
istence and to find a compensation for its deficiencies. 

As revolting as many of the features of industrial civiliza- 
tion are to the sensitive mind, the natural tendency of the 
population to flee from reality should be checked. If we 
live with this civilization, we will be forced to improve it. 
The modern city is huge, crude, and ugly; but it abounds in 
vitality. An old civilization has been shattered, and there 
is no chance of its return; a new civilization has been born, 
and it is certain to live and grow. Although some would 
say that the Paradise of Beauty was buried with the re- 
mains of the old and is lost forever, the facts hardly warrant 
this extreme pessimism. ‘The ancient patterns of beauty 
are gone, and cannot be restored; but new patterns, which 
are in harmony with the changed conditions of life, will be 
generated. ‘The need of the time, therefore, in the realms of 
art and play, is for a type of creative work which takes into 
account machines, science, and democracy. Into the home, 
the school, the factory, the street, the city, the village, the 
legislative hall, and the church the creative spirit must go. 
The common tasks and interests of men must know the 
refining touch of the artist’s hand, the idealizing vision of 
the poet’s mind, and the vital glow of the prophet’s heart. 

What has been America’s contribution to the fine arts? 
In concluding this survey of the present social situation in 
America, one last consideration which may serve to clinch 
the argument should be noted. The final fruitage of the 
recreational life of a people is to be found in its creative 
work in the fields of literature, music, and art. America 


RECREATIONAL LIFE AND EDUCATION Si 


has produced a poet or two of first rank, but there her con- 
tribution to the fine arts rests. In contrast with the achieve- 
ments of certain other peoples, the poverty of our own 
achievements is most striking. The following observation 
by Carleton Parker is to the point: } 


In Florence around 1300, Giotto painted a picture. . . . The day 
it was to be hung in St. Mark’s the town closed down for a holiday, 
and the people with garlands of flowers and songs escorted the 
picture from the artist’s studio to the church. ... We probably 
produce per capita one thousand times more in weight of ready- 
made clothing, Irish lace, artificial flowers, terra cotta, movie 
films, telephones, and printed matter, than these Florentines did; 
but we have with our 100,000,000 inhabitants yet to produce that 
little town, her Dante, her Andrea del Sarto, her Michael Angelo, 
her Leonardo da Vinci, her Savonarola, her Giotto, — or the 
group who followed Giotto’s picture. 


How is our limited achievement in this field to be ex- 
plained? ‘The reason for our limited achievement in the 
fine arts is not difficult to discover. The fundamental fact 
is that the American people are not genuinely interested in 
literature, music, and art. The whole trend of our civiliza- 
tion is toward the practical, the useful, and the remunera- 
tive. Hence art is either definitely subordinated to and 
made to serve these material ends, or is regarded as one of 
the frills of existence. It has therefore been customarily 
left to women of leisure and been regarded as predomi- 
nantly a feminine interest. So strong is this tradition, in 
some sections of the country, that a man is suspected of 
being a bit “queer” if he directs his energies to poetry, 
music, or art. And if a boy is attracted to these fields he is 
often ridiculed as effeminate by his associates. In common 
opinion the fine arts should be left to girls, and taught in 
finishing schools for young ladies. Under these conditions 


1 Parker, Carleton H.: T'4e Casual Laborer, and Other Essays, pp. 58-59. 


318 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


the energies of our people are directed into other channels 
and the fine arts languish. 

The significance of this cultural deficiency, for the present 
discussion, is that the absence of great creative work in the 
fine arts means more than an absence of artists. It means a 
lack in the life of the people. As Parker points out, with all 
our numbers and wealth we cannot begin to match that 
long line of brilliant artists which is the glory of Florence. 
But of far greater significance for education is the fact that 
we have failed to reproduce that group of forgotten men, 
women, and children, who with flowers and songs followed 
Giotto’s picture. 

After full allowance has been made for the capacity of the 
genius for individual and independent achievement, the 
basic fact remains that he is greatly influenced by the social 
muieu into which he is born. Hence, wherever there is 
great creative work, there is a cultivated people to provide 
the stimulus; and wherever such work is absent, the ex- 
planation can usually be found in a people undeveloped on 
the ewsthetic side. For its immature members the group 
provides the foci of attention; it sets the goals to be striven 
for; it determines the direction taken by genius in express- 
ing itself. If talent is born into an inhospitable world, 
there is reason for believing that it is distorted, dwarfed, 
or altogether lost. The highest peaks do not rise abruptly 
out of the plain; so the great creative geniuses do not ap- 
pear in those societies which lack the artistic tradition and 
fail to stimulate the development of the lower levels of 
talent. 

What is the educational significance of the absence of 
artistic creation? Chafing under the caustic comment of 
the foreign critic and desiring to work a speedy cure of our 
defect, we have sometimes been tempted either to imitate an 
alien culture or to produce artists by an educational tour de 


RECREATIONAL LIFE AND EDUCATION 319 


force. 'The first leads to superficiality and the second to 
failure. Ferrero well says: ! 


In order to create and foster art it is necessary to educate gen- 
- erations of artists to do good work and generations of amateurs to 
understand and appreciate it. Neither the artists nor the public 
taste can be educated without a spirit of tradition and of sesthetic 
discipline, which induces the public to allow the artists the neces- 
sary time for the perfecting of their respective arts in all their 
details; which induces the artist to recognize the legitimate require- 
ments of the public for which he works, and to seek to satisfy it 
by adapting his own work to those requirements. 


This analysis, therefore, drives us back to the funda- 
mental recreational defect of our civilization — the absence 
of a rich folk-life. As a people we have no great interest in 
the zsthetic side of the world in which we live. Few of us 
have had from the cradle that intimate contact with fine 
poetry, song, and pictures which is necessary for the de- 
velopment of the highest standards of appreciation. This 
contact comes only with the rich folk-life which penetrates 
every recess of society. These standards can come only as 
we live with the beautiful, and only as these standards be- 
come the possession of an increasing portion of the popula- 
tion will there be provided in America that social stimulus 
to creative work which is essential to truly great achieve- 
ment. The great educational task is not that of training 
the genius; rather is it that of creating and fostering in the 
masses, the source and inspiration of talent, a growing con- 
sciousness of and interest in beauty. As we have just 
said, the great aim cannot be that of producing a genius, 
but rather that of producing a group that will recognize and 
acclaim a genius. ‘Totally disregarding any preconceived 
ideas regarding ultimate standards of artistic appreciation, 


1 Ferrero, G.: Ancient Rome and Modern America, p. 188. 


320 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


education must begin on the humble plane on which the 
people live. 

How may the school enrich the recreational life through 
the conventional formal curriculum? ‘This is the situation 
that confronts those interested in the promotion of educa- 
tion. At many points our recreational life is barren and 
unsatisfactory. What is the school doing to enrich it? On 
paper it is apparently doing much. An examination of a 
conventional school program gives the impression that not a 
little of its work is justified on grounds that fall under this 
general heading. Consider for a moment the formal curric- 
ulum. Literature, music, and art all receive attention in 
the schools. They are presumably taught for the purpose 
of increasing the interest of our people in an important as- 
pect of the play hfe. But if this is the real purpose, we must 
confess that much of the seed is either non-viable, or 1s 
sown on very infertile soil. So little of it germinates or 
takes root in the lives of children. 

We must keep in mind that our success in ministering to 
the needs of the recreational life must be measured in terms 
of the persistence beyond the school of the interests and 
activities fostered under its guidance. If, as a result of tui- 
tion, our children do not love literature and music and art, 
if they are not made to feel a need for these things, we must 
admit failure. In such an event something is wrong with 
our instruction. As a matter of fact, we have made the 
mistake of applying to the teaching of these subjects 
methods and principles generated in the teaching of wholly 
different kinds of materials. 

What are the possibilities in literature? . Since literature 
has long been an important subject in the curriculum, let 
us consider the treatment which it receives in the school. 
By insisting on a deadening analysis and by clinging to an 
ideai of abstract scholarship, vital interest in this field has 


RECREATIONAL LIFE AND EDUCATION 321 


been nipped in the bud. Literature has too often been 
murdered by dissection. Analysis has its place in the proc- 
ess of education, and so has the ideal of scholarship, but 
they must not be set up as the sole ends of instruction and 
permitted to tyrannize over all the work of the school. 
Where its approach should be through the feelings and the 
emotions, education is dominated by intellectual concepts. 
All education has been forced into the same moulds, and with 
tragic consequences the spirit has been sacrificed to the 
form. In our examinations we test for a pedantic knowl- 
edge about literature, and confuse this knowledge with a 
genuinely appreciative esthetic experience. Little wonder 
therefore that, instead of creating interest and developing a 
love of beauty, we have put literature in bad repute among 
children and have taught them to look with suspicion on 
everything carrying its label. In our impatience to reach 
the goal we have been loath to follow the one road that leads 
to it; we have violated the fundamental pedagogical prin- 
ciple of always beginning the process of education at the 
point attained by the pupil; we have insisted that the pupil 
show from the outset an interest in literary classics, and 
that he display the conventional reaction toward them; 
we have demanded mature appreciations from youngsters, 
and have consequently placed a premium on hypocritical 
behavior. Standards of appreciation cannot be handed 
from teacher to pupil, like physical objects, neither do they 
appear unheralded and in mature form at the behest of 
desire. ‘They are creatures of growth, products of life, 
gauges of experience. 

What are the possibilities in the fine arts? Wherever we 
have attempted to teach either music or any of the fine arts 
we have sinned in similar fashion and even more deeply. 
We have tried to teach the grammar of an art before teach- 
ing the art itself. Music is frequently buried under its 


322 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


technique, and is seldom resurrected. We have perhaps 
had our eye too much on producing the artistic genius, 
failing to realize that, if we develop genuine standards 
of appreciation among the masses of the people, and 
thus create a demand for artistic creation, the latter will 
take care of itself. The great object of instruction in this 
field should be that of developing an appetite for the fine 
arts. ‘This will require the temporary sacrifice of conven- 
tional standards. But this sacrifice is more apparent than 
real, since standards that exist only in the minds of teachers 
and find ne expression in the lives of pupils are without 
educational reality. If taste for the fine arts is stimulated, 
even though it is established on a humble plane, the gradual 
elevation of standards will inevitably follow. But in order 
to register this initial victory the teaching of an art must 
begin on the level of appreciation which the pupil brings to 
the school. : 

This means that we must frankly introduce into the 
curriculum courses in literature, music, and art with the 
definite purpose of arousing interest and stirring the emo- 
tions of children. In some fields it may be possible to com- 
pel pupils to master subject-matter; to compel them to like 
the experience is impossible. In our efforts to enrich the 
recreational life we must in some way get children to like 
the fine arts, and to like them so much that, bereft of them, 
life would be robbed of much of its sweetness and charm. 

What are the possibilities in reading? Other subjects in 
the formal curriculum may supplement the fine arts. Read- 
ing, for example, has become one of the most important of 
our recreational activities. Of the two forms, silent reading 
is of much greater importance than oral reading. The 
school should acquaint the pupil with the wealth of satis- 
factions which this field holds for him, and develop interest 
in those types of reading which are of greatest recreational 


RECREATIONAL LIFE AND EDUCATION 323 


value. Besides opening up the inexhaustible resources of 
the world’s literature, it should introduce children to the 
popular magazines and to current fiction of the better sort. 
But, since reading fits in so well with its conventional pur- 
poses, there may be a tendency for the school to overem- 
phasize this interest as a recreational activity. 

What are the possibilities in science? Another field that 
should be made to yield much larger returns in the develop- 
ment of leisure interests is that of natural science. Yet one 
hesitates to use the term “Science”’ in this connection be- 
cause, through school practice, it has come to be associated 
with a thoroughly desiccated and devitalized type of mate- 
rial. The world of nature has always been a source of interest 
and wonder to the race. It is therefore nothing short of a 
tragedy that our increase in knowledge should, in the hands 
of teachers, become an obstacle to the development of an 
appreciation of the stars and the planets, the seas and the 
rivers, the mountains and the valleys, the plains and the 
forests, the soil and the rocks, the animals and the plants, 
and all the wonders of natural creation. By unimaginative 
instruction the romance, the poetry, and the mystery of 
this stupendous achievement in matter and energy, and of 
man’s fascinating adventure within it, have been destroyed. 
How often has a boy or a girl brought to a course in botany, 
zodlogy, physics, or chemistry a genuine curiosity about 
natural phenomena, only to have it destroyed by laws, 
formule, and classifications! We have flooded the imma- 
ture student with such a mass of abstractions as would 
overwhelm a seasoned scientist. The latter has always and 
rightly insisted on following in his own researches the lead 
of curiosity. 

If the teaching of science is to be successful, it must re- 
kindle the interest out of which science itself sprang. But 
this we have denied the child. As a consequence, in order 


324 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


to secure attention in a field to which every normal child, 
without interference from his elders, willingly devotes a por- 
tion of his leisure hours, we are forced to resort to the most 
artificial motivation. Materials derived from the sciences, 
aiming directly at conserving and developing the interests 
of pupils in the phenomena of nature, must be introduced 
into our schools. We must abandon the all-too-common 
method of requiring the student to commit to memory a 
systematic treatise which presents the discoveries and 
speculations of scientists in a highly condensed and abstract 
manner. Of course, where the mastery of a particular 
science or a portion of a science is necessary for the specialist, 
the problem assumes quite a different aspect. With this 
question, however, we are not here concerned. Our conten- 
tion is that the field of natural science offers large opportunt- 
ties for the enrichment of the recreational life, but that the 
methods usually followed im teaching it are not conducive 
to the realization of these opportunities. 

What are the possibilities in the extra-curriculum? 
Although certain other subjects of the program of studies 
contain large recreational possibilities, space does not per- 
mit their consideration. Outside the formal curriculum, 
where the pupils themselves have been given a measure of 
freedom, we have probably been most successful in caring 
for the needs of the recreational life. Perhaps here is our 
most fruitful suggestion for the further evolution of the 
program. We may reasonably assume that the most effec- 
tive way of developing recreational interests is to provide 
the pupil with a certain amount of free time within the 
school day, during which he is expected to participate in any 
one of a great variety of activities. ‘The only training for 
leisure is leisure. 

The school must provide as effectively for play as for 
work. ‘There should, of course, be no disposition to place 


RECREATIONAL LIFE AND EDUCATION 325 


complete emphasis on the fine arts, or on any other single 
type of activity. The school cannot afford to shape its 
program in accordance with principles which underlie the 
education of an aristocracy of either birth or talent. Every 
level of interest or aptitude must be reached. After all, the 
intrinsic worth of an experience can be determined only by 
him who lives it. If the potentialities of a youngster are 
exhausted in the playing of marbles or the spinning of tops, 
by all means let him shoot his marbles and spin his tops. 
But the ordinary child possesses varied capacities, and 
should be stimulated to develop not one but many interests. 
He should be encouraged to participate in intellectual activi- 
ties, to play games, to read literature, to appreciate music 
and art, to converse, to engage in some avocation, to go 
hiking, to dance, and, in a word, to develop any line of 
wholesome activity toward which he has an inclination. 
Likewise, the individual of superior and diversified talents 
should be urged to give expression to his rich natural herit- 
age, and should also be stimulated to attempt artistic cre- 
ation. In the field of recreation there is no room for that 
Pharisaism which would foster a self-righteous spirit among 
those endowed with any special gift. 

What are the possibilities in companionship? In this 
connection, special mention should be made of the need for 
developing capacity for companionship. Few of us, domi- 
nated as we are by the demands of haste and the crowd, are 
good companions. We pay scant attention to the forma- 
tion of friendships, and, when formed, we give but little 
thought to keeping them in repair. Many of us become 
embarrassed and unnatural on entering even a small group. 
Yet most of us possess large possibilities of development in 
this direction. The value of companionship in making life 
pleasant, agreeable, and significant has never been neglected 
by the aristocracies. ‘There is no good reason why the ordi- 


326 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


nary citizen of a democracy should be a poor companion, 
nor why crude and boorish manners should be associated 
with democratic institutions. Writes Arthur Ponsonby, in 
his Decline of Aristocracy: 

Democracy must be on its guard in its very natural prejudice 
against traditions of refinement and leisure which have been so 
much misused by the aristocracy. It must be careful not to insist 
on a general average type characterized by the self-satisfied medi- 
ocrity of a bourgeoisie, devoid of dignity or noble aspirations. . . 
and only educated im a purely utilitarian sense toward a standard 
of brute efficiency. 


In the cultivation of the simple associations of men par- 
ticularly must democracy profit from the experience of aris- 
tocracy. Hence, in our schools, social gatherings in which 
the capacity for companionship may be fully developed, 
and in which the amenities of social life may be acquired, 
should be encouraged and provided in great abundance. 
All the work of the school should be carried on so as to 
promote the refinement of manners, the formation of friend- 
ships, and the growth of simple kindliness. Especially 
through those activities, which at present are unwisely 
called extra-curriculum interests, social life may be refined 
to the point of exhibiting a certain artistic beauty. 

What changes are essential to the inauguration of this 
program? What has been suggested in the foregoing para- 
graphs would obviously require fundamental changes in the 
conventional school. Although in the more progressive 
communities much has already been accomplished, the 
physical equipment of the school would have to under- 
go great modification. Any attempt at the promotion 
of recreational interests will entail ample playgrounds, 
gymnasia, play rooms, auditoria, museums, and the utiliza- 
tion on the part of the school of the facilities of the com- 
munity. The school day will have to be lengthened. At 


RECREATIONAL LIFE AND EDUCATION 327 


this point, particularly, the boarding school of the well-to-do 
has an advantage over the day school of the public. The 
success of the famous English “ Public Schools ”’ in minister- 
ing to the recreational needs of their boys has rested, in no 
small measure, on the fact that they are boarding schools. 
The leisure of the students is spent under the supervision of 
the school. It is this supervision of leisure which is needed 
for the great masses of children in our cities — children 
whose playground is the street and whose leisure is perforce 
passed in questionable surroundings, and in many cases 
under the direction of ignorant, if not vicious, older com- 
panions. The practice which is often followed to-day in 
our more populous centers of running two alternative ses- 
sions daily for two groups of children, and thus shortening 
the time spent in school, is much to be deplored. 

But if we are to attack this problem of recreation suc- 
cessfully, the greatest change must be wrought in the atti- 
tude of teachers, parents, and members of school boards 
toward the play life. There is a deeply entrenched con- 
viction that school is a place for work and not for play. 
Certain changes which have already appeared and which 
are fundamentally recreational have been contemptuously 
styled “fads and frills ” by adverse critics. Such opposi- 
tion is to be expected; it is but a symptom of the disease 
which has been diagnosed and which American society must 
cure. If our people sufficiently valued the play life there 
would be but little opposition to such a program as has been 
suggested; in fact it would already have found expression in 
the schools. The great desideratum then is a change of 
heart, a spiritual rebirth, on the part of the taxpayer. 

What is the wider opportunity of the school? In con- 
clusion we should point out the wider social implication of 
the program. The adult community must be included as 
well as the children. The time is past when we can think 


328 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


of education as limited to the years of childhood, and of the 
school as concerned only with children. The school must 
reach out to embrace the old along with the young. In 
every section of the country it should become a community 
center, a meeting place for the interests of the entire citizen- 
ship. Particularly should it be made a center for satisfying 
the recreational needs of the community. The effective 
school is eager to touch the parents. Can it approach them 
at a more strategic point, and be less accused of trespassing 
on forbidden territory, than in attempting to foster, satisfy, 
and elevate their desires for recreation? And as adults 
learn to play they will see more clearly the value of play for 
their children. 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


1. What religious, economic, and social factors operated in the early 
history of this country to dwarf the recreational life? 

2. It is stated in the text that recreation has no ulterior purpose. If 
this is the case, what principles must govern the relation of recreation 
to the serious activities of life? 

3. What are the differences between work and play from the standpoint 
of: (1) motivation; (2) complexity; (3) product? From these three 
viewpoints examine the activities of the following: (a) a professional 
baseball player; (b) an actor; (c) the millionaire amassing his tenth 
million; (d) a primitive huntsman; (e) a boy playing football on the 
corner lot; (f) the gridiron star in a big varsity game; (g) the politi- 
cian; (h) the university professor of independent means; and (i) the 
average pupil in a high school algebra class. 

4, What is the fallacy of identifying leisure with all activities which 
fall outside the narrow vocational calling? In what respects do 
many of the health, family, civic, and religious activities approximate 
vocational rather than recreational activities? 

5. Show how, because of its peculiar nature, recreation influences the 
growth of character out of all proportion to the time actually spent 
in the activity. | 

6. Criticize the following activities from the viewpoint of their possi- 
bilities of affording a growing recreational satisfaction: marbles, golf, 
horse-shoes, cards, music, literature, stamp-collecting, automobiling, 
radio, wrestling, tennis, swimming, theater, moving pictures. 

7. What are the more important advantages and disadvantages which 


10. 


ibe 


12. 


13. 


14. 


15. 


16. 


RECREATIONAL LIFE AND EDUCATION — 329 


have arisen from the extension of recreational facilities through com- 
mercial agencies? 


. How has the growth of applied science, during the last hundred years, 


increased the time available for recreation and modified its modes? 


. What recreational activities should be stressed by the rural school? 


How would these activities differ from those stressed in the city school? 
How has the domination of the school by a narrowly academic and 
intellectually minded class tended to overstress reading as a recrea- 
tional activity for the major portion of the population? 

How has commercialism artificially stimulated rivalry in the Jeading 
athletic events of our colleges, and thereby impaired their educa- 
tional function? 

Why has gambling been associated so frequently with recreational 
activities? How does gambling reveal a relatively impoverished 
recreational interest? 

How may the school and other agencies raise the level of one impor- 
tant form of recreation — human companionship? What relationship 
has this question to the teaching of oral composition in the schools? 
From the standpoint of the development of recreational interests and 
pursuits that will function throughout life, what are the serious 
objections to the nature and mode of conduct of the athletic sports 
emphasized in high school and college? 

Without imperiling the recreational values involved, what steps 
could be taken to enhance the wider educational and social values 
that inhere in the following: the newspaper; the theater; the motion 
picture; the radio? 

What would be the objection to introducing into the formal curricu- 
lum instruction in the orderly undertaking of the following games: 
checkers, basketball, baseball, dancing, rudiments of card playing, 
fireside and parlor games, charades, dominoes? How would a knowl- 
edge of these games as a common possession affect the family and 
community life? 


PROBLEM 17 
HOW MAY EDUCATION FOSTER THE RELIGIOUS LIFE? 


What is the relation of religion to adjustment? — Why do men crave a 
general interpretation of the universe? — What is religion? —’To whom 
should men go for religion? — What is the relation between religion and 
morals? — How may religion motivate conduct? — Is moral education 
dependent on religion? — What evils have flowed from historical religion? 
— Can intolerance be minimized through education? — Can formalism be 
checked through education? — Why is religious faith uncertain? — Does 
contemporary education meet the need? — What are the defects of current 
efforts at religious education? — How may the religious life be fostered? — 
Can religious instruction have definite objectives? 


Does the foregoing analysis embrace the whole of life? 
The relation of education to health, family, economic, civic, 
and recreational interests has now been considered. Nota 
few engaged in the work of education would say that these 
five departments embrace the whole of life. Because of the 
sins committed in the name of religion, and because of the 
amazing triumphs of science in the modern age, minds have 
become confused. ‘The dogmatism of religion contending 
with the arrogance of science has presented a spectacle 
which has distorted the judgment of two generations. 
But refusal to place the secular interests in the wider setting 
which transcends the bounds of sense and the limits of 
exact knowledge, is as unsatisfying and superficial as that 
primitive cosmology which accounted for the stability of the 
earth by assuming it to rest on the back of an elephant 
which in turn was supported by a tortoise. 

Those who, while recognizing the necessity of making the 
general interpretation of life, would confine public educa- 
tion to the five great needs of men already considered, 
sometimes defend their own position by contending that 


RELIGIOUS LIFE AND EDUCATION 331 


the separation of Church and State automatically relieves 
the public school of responsibility in this field. They 
maintain that, by disregarding the claims of religion, no 
general philosophical stand is taken, or need be taken, con- 
cerning the nature of the universe and the destiny of man. 
They keep silent, and in so doing believe that they are ex- 
hibiting a detached impartiality. This is a most naive as- 
sumption, for, by ignoring the question, a most decided 
answer is given. And the answer which through eva- 
sion is thus unconsciously given, is of doubtful value, partly 
because it is made in ignorance, and partly because it is for 
the most part a negative rather than a positive answer. | 
Certainly, this problem cannot be escaped. In every far- 
reaching decision the individual starts from certain basic 
propositions whose truth is implicitly assumed. If he fails 
to recognize the existence of these assumptions on which his 
life rests, he is of all men most to be pitied. Born con- 
ceivably to be a spectator of all time, like an ostrich he 
buries his head in the sand. 

What is the relation of religion to adjustment? ‘Through~ 
out this volume the view is consistently maintained that 
education is a form of adjustment. If this conception is 
accepted, the educator must be perpetually watchful lest 
the adjustment be merely to the more immediate, superfi- 
vial, and ephemeral aspects of the environment. In so far 
as the experience of the race can serve individual men in 
their efforts to adjust themselves to the deeper and more 
abiding realities of existence, that experience should be in- 
corporated into every educational program meriting the 
support of a serious-minded people. The central aim of 
education should be to help the individual to that wider 
interpretation of existence which holds the largest possi- 
bilities for service and the greatest support in fact. 

The introduction of the child to this interpretation should 


332 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


be marked by none of that dogmatic intolerance which has 
been so commonly associated with religious practice. Or, 
to speak more guardedly, such intolerance, which seems to 
be the unfortunate but inevitable accompaniment of this 
interest, should be reduced toa minimum. Since knowledge 
accumulates and life bursts the moulds of earlier years, the 
interpretation must change from age to age. Yet certain 
broad principles, dynamic in their character, have stood 
the test of time, and around these there should be no in- 
superable difficulty in getting the great majority of en- 
lightened men to rally to-day. Against the superficial in- 
tellectualism of the hour man must constantly appeal to 
the wisdom of the ages. This wisdom conditions the more 
fundamental adjustments to life, and without it there can 
be no unity in the educational program. 

How may this problem be attacked? So important is the 
subject under consideration, and so overlaid with misun- 
derstanding and prejudice, that, at the risk of tiring the 
reader, certain questions must receive attention which, 
though not immediately related to narrow educational 
practice, are essential to the wider educational theory. The 
scope of this discussion will therefore be somewhat broader 
than the treatment accorded the previous problems. The 
following topics will be touched upon, in order: first, the 
common craving of men for a general interpretation of the 
universe; second, the nature and variety of religious experi- 
ence; third, the relation of religion to conduct and morals; 
fourth, the evils which flow from institutional religion; fifth, 
the great need in the modern world for an accepted body of 
religious principles; and finally, the educational program 
itself in its more concrete aspects. Although a more con- 
densed treatment may for certain reasons be desirable, it 
seems impossible to exclude from the discussion any one of 
these points. 


RELIGIOUS LIFE AND EDUCATION 333 


Why do men crave a general interpretation of the uni- 
verse? The demand on the part of men for a general 
interpretation of the universe, touching human destiny and 
the purpose of existence, is well-nigh universal. Consider 
the following quotation from Tolstoy who, at the age of 
fifty, faced the eternal problem of existence and sought 
anew the meaning of life: 


What will be the outcome of what I do to-day? Of what I shall 
do to-morrow? What will be the outcome of all my life? Why 
should I live? Why should I do anything? Is there in life any 
purpose which the inevitable death which awaits me does not 
undo and destroy? These questions are the simplest in the world. 
From the youngest child to the wisest old man, they are in the soul 
of every human being. Without an answer to them, it Is impos- 
sible for life to go on. 


If man were privileged to ask of an infinite mind one 
question, and only one, with the assurance that it would be 
truthfully and completely answered, what riddle would he 
propound? Would he seek to satisfy his curiosity regarding 
some fundamental question of science, such as the biological 
origin of man, the possibility of creating living tissue in the 
test tube, the dimensions of the universe, the ultimate con- 
stitution of matter, or the relation of body and mind? Or 
would his query center on some interest of human welfare, 
such as the increase of the span of human life, the control of 
the forces of biological heredity, the banishing of poverty 
and economic want from the catalogue of human ills, the 
peaceful organization of the common life of the nations, or 
the development of artistic genius? 

While recognizing the great significance of each he would, 
if wise, ask no one of these questions. Rather would he 
seek to penetrate more deeply into the mysteries of life. 
He would want to know something of the forces that lie at 
the heart of the world and determine its destiny. He would 


334 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


ask, perhaps: Is the universe friendly? Is there a purpose 
working itself out in the world of nature and in the lives of 
men? Does this purpose recognize moral distinctions, or 
does it merely discern differences in size and distinguish 
strength from weakness? Does it manifest a deep oblivion 
of the laws of right and wrong? Is it beyond good and evil? 
Do the thoughts and feelings and actions of men obstruct or 
facilitate the realization of this purpose, or are they but the 
impotent sparks that fly from the anvil of the forces of 
creation? On the answer to this question rests in large 
measure the significance of life; and every man must answer 
it, if not through taking thought, at least in the life that he 
lives. 

In a familiar passage in the Preface to his Heretics, 
Chesterton writes: 4 


There are some people — and I am one of them — who think 
that the most practical and important thing about a man is still 
his view of the universe. We think that for a landlady consider- 
ing a lodger it is important to know his income, but still more 
important to know his philosophy. We think that for a general 
about to fight an enemy it is important to know the enemy’s 
numbers, but still more important to know the enemy’s philosophy. 
We think the question is not whether the theory of the cosmos 
affects matters, but whether in the long run anything else affects 
them. 


This view, though not popular to-day, contains and will 
always contain fundamental truth. 

What is religion? ‘This brings us to that special division 
or aspect of human experience which has ordinarily been 
styled religious. In the very widest sense, religion may be 
identified with man’s conception of and his attitude toward 
the primal values of life. In the words of William James. ? 


1 Chesterton, G. K.: Heretics, Preface. 
2 James, William: Varieties of Religious Experience, p. 35. 


RELIGIOUS LIFE AND EDUCATION 335 


Religion, whatever it is, is a man’s total reaction upon life, so 
why not say that any total reaction upon life is a religion? Total 
reactions are different from casual reactions, and total attitudes 
are different from usual or professional attitudes. ‘To get at them 
you must go behind the foreground of existence and reach down to 
that curious sense of the whole residual cosmos as an everlasting 
presence, intimate or alien, terrible or amusing, lovable or odious, 
which in some degree every one possesses. This sense of the 
world’s presence, appealing as it does to our peculiar individual 
temperament, makes us either strenuous or careless, devout or 
blasphemous, gloomy or exultant, about life at large; and our 
reaction, involuntary and inarticulate and often half unconscious 
as it is, is the completest of all answers to the question, “‘ What is 
the character of this universe in which we dwell?” 


Why is religious interpretation always limited? While 
recognizing the logical necessity of thus imputing religious 
attitudes to all men, even to the cynic and the libertine, and 
of acknowledging the affinity of the religious with the irre- 
ligious, James goes on to limit his discussion of the religious 
life to “* the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men 
in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to 
stand in relation to whatever they may consider divine.” 
In this discussion a similar course will be followed. In- 
stead of denying the religious quality to any honest effort 
to interpret the deeper experiences of men, instead of at- 
tempting to establish the absolute truth or falsity of any 
religious beliefs, we shall rather take the position that cer- 
tain religious interpretations, because they reflect more 
faithfully the fundamental facts of life, are more serviceable 
to man than others. Because of the limitations inherent in 
a temporal and highly circumscribed existence, every at- 
tempt on the part of man to apprehend the full meaning of 
life must fall far short of finality. For but a moment each 
man stands on the banks of the river of time, and his esti- 
mate of its source, its destination, and its power must al- 


336 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


ways reflect the narrow range of his vision. Since the world 
of knowledge is ever shrouded in mystery, a large element of 
uncertainty must characterize even the most careful inter- 
pretation, and every evaluation, being a reaction of a finite 
mind upon an infinite problem, must Sah the restricted 
confines of that mind. 

How varied are religious interpretations? In spite of the 
difficulties which attend the task, man has in all ages and 
in all places meditated on the ends of life and kasintie: its 
central meaning. He always has, and he always must, seek 
an answer to the question: What is good? Likewise, his 
destiny, whether in this world or another, must always 
agitate him. Groping after an understanding of those 
forces which give him birth, condition his life, and inevitably 
cause his death, he has endeavored to solve the riddle of life. 
In his efforts to control these forces which beset him he 
has used cajolery, attempted compulsion, uttered defiance, 
pronounced curses, offered up prayers, granted submission, 
and pursued truth. In his reaction to the facts of life he has 
run the entire gamut of his emotions. He has known love 
and hate, joy and sorrow, fear and anger, elation and dejec- 
tion, wonder and disgust. His knowledge of the world of 
nature has ranged from darkest superstition to most exact 
science. 

Consequently, man’s religious beliefs and practices, 
since they must always be bound by the data of experience 
and knowledge of the world, have shown the widest diver- 
sity. So varied indeed have they been that students have 
often hesitated to include them all in a single department of 
human experience. At one time or another man has wor- 
shiped almost every object and aspect of creation. He has 
bowed down before birds and beasts, fishes and reptiles, 
shrubs and trees, sticks and stones, rivers and mountains, 
and the sun, the moon, and the stars. He has trembled 


RELIGIOUS LIFE AND EDUCATION 337 


before the storm and sought to appease the thunder and the 
lightning. He has rendered homage in spring to the forces 
of reproduction. He has even made sacrifices to images 
graven by his own hands. Because religion has so fre- 
quently taken primitive and degenerate forms, because the 
great religions have all evolved by gradual changes from 
humble beginnings full of error and delusion, some have 
sought to discredit the religious experience. But all hu- 
man institutions develop from humble origins. Science, in 
whose name these critics so often speak, must trace her 
own lineage back to the magical practices of savage peoples. 
Whether religion was given to man direct from the hand of 
the creator or was evolved from the worship of nature, its 
worth in refining and making meaningful the lives of men 
remains the same. 

To whom should men go for religion? In his efforts to 
discover his essential relation to the universe man has per- 
petually searched and evaluated his experience. His inter- 
pretations of life have been many and diverse. Because of 
this diversity and because of the absence of any objective 
check, from certain quarters has come the suggestion that 
all forms of religion are equally true and equally false, 
equally good and equally bad, equally wise and equally 
foolish. Consequently, it is argued, each man should 
choose entirely according to his taste. While every indi- 
vidual has a right to the interpretation that satisfies him, 
we might well be guided here by the same principle that 
serves us in other fields. As we go to the great scientists 
for science, to the great artists for art, to the great composers 
for music, to the great philosophers for philosophy, and to 
the great poets for poetry, so we should go to the great re- 
ligious prophets for religion and to the great mystics for 
mysticism. In our search for the deeper meanings and pur- 
poses of life we must go to those blessed with the prophetic 


338 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


strain. There is no more, but rather less, reason for follow- 
ing the tyro here than in other fields. We may certainly 
assume that the widest differences in philosophical interest 
and religious insight exist among men. From those highly 
gifted in this last respect the leaders in the religious life of 
mankind have been recruited. As we cast the eye over the 
course of history we see standing out in bold relief certain 
gigantic figures, possessed of extraordinary spiritual power 
and deeply concerned over the purpose of life — men who 
have placed their stamp on peoples and cultures and whose 
thoughts and teachings have entered into the social in- 
heritance of all races. We see Zoroaster, Amos, Buddha, 
Confucius, Jesus, Mohammed, Saint Francis, and other 
rare spirits. Clearly, to these men of vision we should turn 
for spiritual insight, and for an estimate of the nature and 
worth of the religious life. 

What is the vision of the prophet? In the following 
simple statement of the great religious teacher is set down 
an interpretation of life and an ideal of conduct to which 
the response is all but universal: 


Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, 
tempting him, and saying: Master, which is the great command- 
ment in the law? Jesus said unto him: Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with 
all thy mind. ‘This is the first and great commandment. And the 
second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. 


The first commandment assumes that at the heart of crea- 
tion there is a power working for righteousness and a power 
worthy of love. It assumes that even the most humble 
member of our race is of infinite worth. The second com- 
mandment is “like unto” the first, and is indeed merely a 
corollary of it. For, if all men, regardless of race or condi- 
tion, are the objects of this wide solicitude, then, perforce, 


RELIGIOUS LIFE AND EDUCATION 339 


it behooves each man to place a high estimate on the worth 
of his neighbor. In these two commandments resides that 
finest of all religious faiths, the belief in the Fatherhood of 
God and the Brotherhood of Man. 

Does religious faith lie within the domain of science? 
But with reference to all these wider interpretations the 
skeptic will say that the evidence is inconclusive. He will 
stoutly maintain that he has never seen this power back of 
creation, and, since he prides himself on living the life of 
reason, unless it is brought within the range of either the 
microscope or the telescope or made to reveal itself in the 
test tube, he confuses faith with superstition. He admits 
the possible existence of such a power, but, as the men of 
old waited for a sign, he too waits for the evidence of the 
senses. 

Let us at once grant the contention that there is no 
scientific proof of the presence of this force in the universe. 
We shall even go farther. Since this power is not a part of 
the world of phenomena, the world with which the scientist 
necessarily and rightly deals, it will never be discovered 
with the instruments of science. Nothing but confusion 
can arise from the notion so commonly encountered to-day 
that the scientist must discover God. Man but postulates 
God in his attempt to understand the universe. This in- 
terpretation, while it must be perpetually modified by the 
findings of science, can neither be proved nor disproved by 
the technique which conforms to its canons. It is a faith 
that transcends the world of sense —a faith whose worth 
can be determined only by him who believes it. In certain 
of its aspects it is neither objectively given nor objectively 
derived, but rather a goal to be achieved. “ The criterion 
of the material world,” says Hall, “is objective existence; 
the criterion of the spiritual world is subjective need.” A 
wide acceptance of a particular interpretation of experience 


340 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


is probably necessary to make it true in the fullest sense, 
The man who waits for proof before accepting any positive 
evaluation of the universe will wait in vain, for it is the 
product of a creative act. It will come only when sought, 
and then only to those who dare a venture of faith. 

What is the relation between religion’ and morals? 
These two commandments, it should be observed, bring 
together in intimate union two aspects of life which had 
long followed different courses, namely, religion and moral- 
ity. In their origins these two divisions of experience were 
widely separated, but their final close association was in- 
evitable. So interwoven in the thoughts and actions of 
men have they become, that to distinguish the moral from 
the religious is now difficult. Indeed religion in its highest 
form has been aptly defined as morality touched with emo- 
tion, and, perhaps one might add, with meaning. In all 
the great religions this association is found. The Hebrew 
prophet Micah has thus pronounced the supreme interest of 
Jehovah in righteousness: ““ He hath shown thee, O man, 
what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but 
to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with 
thy God?”’ The Buddhist sacred scripture urges a way of 
life which suggests a familiar passage from the New Testa- 
ment: 

Let us live happily, then, not hating those who hate us! 
Let us live free from hatred among men who hate. 


Let a man overcome anger by kindness, evil by good; 
Let him conquer the stingy by a gift, the liar by truth. 


In the Zend Avesta of ancient Persia a similar emphasis on 
morality is found: “ Purity is for man, next to life, the 
highest good; that purity, O Zarathustra, that is in the re- 
ligion of Mazda for him who cleanses himself with good 
thoughts, words, and deeds.” And in the Golden Song 
of Hierocles, representative of the later Hellenic religion, 


RELIGIOUS LIFE AND EDUCATION 34] 


occurs the same teaching: “ Purity of soul is the only divine 
service.” 

How may religion motivate conduct? The association of 
religion and morality is of extraordinary significance. Be- 
ing raised above the plane of mere expediency, morality is 
given a divine sanction. Since the individual in the act 
identifies himself with that central purpose which moves 
through the universe, the performance of duty becomes a 
joy. It exalts and idealizes and lends warmth to those 
principles of action which, if the Kingdom of Heaven is to 
come on earth, must find expression in the lives of men. 
This elevation of moral behavior is described by James in 
the following words: 4 


When all is said and done, we are in the end absolutely depend- 
ent on the universe; and into sacrifices and surrenders of some sort, 
deliberately looked at and accepted, we are drawn and pressed as 
into our only permanent positions of repose. Now in those states 
of mind which fall short of religion, the surrender is submitted to as 
an imposition of necessity, and the sacrifice is undergone at the 
very best without complaint. In the religious life, on the con- 
trary, surrender and sacrifice are positively espoused: even un- 
necessary givings-up are added in order that the happiness may 
increase. Religion thus makes easy and felicitous what in any case 
is necessary; and if it be the only agency that can accomplish 
this result, its vital importance as a human faculty stands vindi- 
cated beyond dispute. It becomes an essential organ of life, per- 
forming a function which no other portion of our nature can so 
successfully fulfill. 


How may religion give stability to conduct? Another 
important consequence of the union of religion and morality 
is the greatly increased authority which it gives to the 
moral law. No aspect of human life is trivial. Even the 
most petty act must carry a serious mien to him who lives 
in the sight of God and in the hope of eternity. The great 

1 James, William: Varieties of Religious Experience, pp. 51-52. 


342 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


moral function performed by religion in society is thus 
described by Bryce, in his discussion of the influence of 
religion in the American Commonwealth: ! 


If we ask how far religion exerts a stimulating influence on the 
thought and imagination of a nation, we are met by the difficulty of 
determining what is the condition of mankind where no such 
influence is present. There has never been a civilized nation 
without religion, and though many highly civilized individual men 
live without it, they are so obviously the children of a state of 
sentiment and thought in which religion has been a powerful 
factor, that no one can conjecture what a race of men would be like 
who had during several generations believed themselves to be the 
highest beings in the universe, or at least entirely out of relation to 
any other higher beings, and to be therewithal destined to no kind 
of existence after death. Some may hold that respect for public 
opinion, sympathy, an interest in the future of mankind, would do 
for such a people what religion has done in the past; or that they 
might even be, as Lucretius expected, the happier for the extinc- 
tion of possible supernatural terrors. Others may hold that life 
would seem narrow and insignificant, and that the wings of imagin- 
ation would droop in a universe felt to be void. All that need be 
here said is that a people with comparatively little around it in 
the way of historic memories and associations to touch its emo- 
tions, a people whose energy is chiefly absorbed in commerce and 
the development of the material resources of its territory, a people 
consumed by a feverish activity that gives little opportunity for 
reflection or for the contemplation of nature, seems most of all to 
need to have its horizon widened, its sense of awe and mystery 
touched, by whatever calls it away from the busy world of sight 
and sound into the stillness of faith and meditation. ... 

No one is so thoughtless as not sometimes to ask himself what 
would befall mankind if the solid fabric of belief on which their 
morality has heretofore rested, or at least been deemed by them to 
rest, were suddenly to break up and vanish under the influence of 
new views of nature, as the ice-fields split and melt when they 
have floated down into a warmer sea. Morality with religion for 
its sanction has hitherto been the basis of social polity, except 
under military despotisms: would morality be so far weakened as 





1 Bryce, James: The American Commonwealth, vol. u, pp. 597-98. 


RELIGIOUS LIFE AND EDUCATION 343 


to make social polity unstable? and if so, would a reign of violence 
return? Standing in the midst of a great American city, and 
watching the throngs of eager figures streaming hither and thither, 
marking the sharp contrasts of poverty and wealth, an increasing 
mass of wretchedness and an increasing display of luxury, knowing 
that before long a hundred millions of men will be living between 
ocean and ocean under this one government — a government 
which their own hands have made, and which they feel to be the 
work of their own hands — one is startled by the thought of what 
might befall this huge but delicate fabric of laws and commerce and 
social institutions were the foundations it has rested on to crumble 
away. Suppose that all these men ceased to believe that there was 
any power above them, anything in heaven or earth but what 
their senses told them of; suppose that their consciousness of 
individual force and responsibility, already dwarfed by the over- 
whelming power of the multitude, and the fatalistic submission 
it engenders, were further weakened bys the feeling that their 
swiftly fleeting life was rounded by a perpetual sleep... . Would 
the moral code stand unshaken, and with it the reverence for law, 
the sense of duty towards the community, and even towards the 
gencrations yet to come? Would men say “Let us eat and drink, 
for to-morrow we may die?” Or would custom, and sympathy, 
and a perception of the advantages which stable government offers 
to each one, replace supernatural sanctions, and hold in check the 
violence of masses and the self-indulgent impulses of the individual? 
History, if she cannot give a complete answer to this question, tells 
us that hitherto civilized society has rested on religion, and that 
free government has prospered best among religious peoples. 


Is moral education dependent on religion? At this point 
before continuing the main line of thought it is perhaps well 
for us to consider a question of major educational impor- 
tance. Whether this supernatural sanction is necessary to 
the control of conduct, as Bryce suggests, is a matter of spec- 
ulation concerning which there is no general agreement. As 
yet the evidence on either side of this question of profound 
social significance is inconclusive. That the authority de- 
rived from a consideration of social expediency may be 
sufficient to insure the formation of desirable habits and 


344 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


ideals is certainly a tenable hypothesis. At some time 
scientific experiment may prove its truth; but until this 
proof is forthcoming, it would be the height of educational 
folly to abandon gratuitously a force which has served so 
powerfully to control conduct in the past. At present 
human experience indicates that any program, designed to 
foster the development of morals, can hardly afford to 
ignore religious influences. 

That our schools, therefore, which have always displayed | 
at least a theoretic interest in the growth of character, 
should exclude religion from their program is as unfortu- 
nate as it is surprising. Because of the probability of some 
measure of dependence of morality on religion, the latter 
should be accorded a high place in the educational cur- 
riculum. From this discussion, however, the conclusion 
must not be drawn that the only justification of religious 
instruction is to be found in the sanction which it may give 
to moral conduct. Religion, no less than beauty or com- 
panionship, is required by men in the simple fulfillment of 
life. While possibly of great instrumental value in the pro- 
motion of other interests, and particularly morals, the es- 
sential value of religion is unique. 

What is the significance of religious devotion? Another 
result of the union of religion and morality, equal in signifi- 
cance to the sanction which it gives to conduct, deserves 
consideration. It seems to be a psychological fact that 
happiness comes to the individual only to the degree that he 
throws himself whole-heartedly into some great activity. 
He who seeks happiness directly seldom finds it. “ For 
whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will 
lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.” This 
paradox, having its root in human nature, lies at the heart 
of the religious life. In its psychological aspect religion is 
devotion, and consequently it has not failed to move men by 


RELIGIOUS LIFE AND EDUCATION 345 


demanding sacrifice and self-denial. There is a rugged ele- 
ment in the nature of man which responds to such an appeal. 
In those heroic episodes of human experience, when men 
deliberately choose the more difficult and dangerous course, 
this strain shows itself. Religions not only require devo- 
tion from their converts, but they also require devotion to 
certain ends. ‘The great religions require devotion to great 
ends. The prophet says: “Whosoever will be great among 
you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief 
among you, let him be your servant.” Here is a religion 
which adjures its adherents to devote themselves to the 
service of their fellow-men, to lose the narrow life of animal 
selfishness in the broader life of human brotherhood. 

How may religious faith unify personality? Further- 
more, this unwavering devotion of the self to the service of 
forces and ends of transcendent worth and permanence can- 
not fail to elevate character and to color the entire attitude 
toward life. In the rapidly shifting scenes and fortunes of 
the immediate world, this devotion to the ideal resolves 
the conflicts of personality and gives to the religious soul 
stability and poise. In the course of his life man must en- 
dure with equal fortitude the calms and storms encountered 
_on the seas of experience. Unless viewed in proper perspec- 
tive these vicissitudes must make existence intolerable. 
Man craves a security which material and temporal things 
can never afford. This need of anchoring in a changing world 
to the unchanging realities of life has been recognized by 
the prophets of all ages. How wise is the admonition of 
Jesus: 


Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and 
rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth 
nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor 
steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 


346 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


An almost identical passage from Buddhist scripture 
stresses the same point: 


The treasure thus laid up is secure, and passes not away: 
though he leave the fleeting riches of this world, this a man takes 
with him, a treasure that no wrong of others, and no thief, can 
steal. 


And Rousseau gives expression to a similar thought: 
“Every man goes down to the grave carrying in his clutched 
hands only that which he has given away.” Through the 
religious life man attains that tranquillity of mind which 
comes only to him who is in accord with the universe. 


To summarize we can do no better than quote from 
Drake: 4 


Religion, in the best sense of the word, is the devotion of the 
heart and will to some great ideal in life. It is the universal war 
against sin and wrong, greatly and imaginatively conceived. It is 
the divine urge in the human breast — “‘the life of God in the soul 
of man.” It summons men from their haphazard, animal life, 
rescues them from their passions, is never without the sense that 
they need correction, adjustment, salvation. Its presence means 
emancipation from the cares and fears of worldliness, release from 
anxious burdened moods, a new tranquilization, poise of spirit, 
power; a widening of horizons, an easing of strain, an inner re- 
sourcefulness and stability. The individual loses himself in a - 
larger life, and thereby finds that life has more dignity and worth 
than the natural man knows. 


What evils have flowed from historical religion? From 
such a pure and unalloyed religion as we have described, 
nothing but good can come. But institutional and histori- 
eal religion has been prolific of both misery and error. 
Under the banners of religion no small part of the evil in the 
world has been worked. Almost every crime has received 
the blessing of the priest in the name of God. That which 


1 Drake, Durant: Problems of Religion, pp. 225-26. 


RELIGIOUS LIFE AND EDUCATION 34:7 


has so often been regarded as the finest thing in life has 
brought untold suffering in its train. The practices of re- 
ligion have fostered strife and injustice. ‘Times without 
number the cross, symbolic of the Prince of Peace and good 
will on earth, has become “‘the handle of the sword.” Re- 
ligion has set father against son and brother against brother; 
it has burned cities, destroyed nations and stoned the 
prophets of mankind. Religious institutions have shackled 
the minds of men and thus enabled the despot to shackle 
their bodies. The most grievous forms of exploitation have 
been sanctified by holy water and protectingly covered by 
the priestly cassock. The doctrine of immortality has been 
prostituted to make men tolerant of injustice on earth, in 
the hope of securing reward beyond the grave. Religion 
has been used as an instrument by powerful and privileged 
classes to hold the weak and the poor in subjection. 

Popular revolutions have not infrequently identified re- 
ligion with those reactionary and tyrannical forces against 
which revolts were aimed. -More than a century ago 
revolutionary France burned all the gods of religion, pro- 
claimed the Age of Reason, and set up a Goddess of Reason 
to worship. Recently analogous ceremonies have been ob- 
_ served by the young Communists of Russia. The charges 
against religion are indeed grave. Little wonder that 
thoughtful and sincere men have vigorously maintained that 
the net contribution of religion in the past has been evil. 

What are the evils of intolerance? The evils which have 
been associated with religion cannot be condoned, but they 
may be explained. And, if they are understood, through 
enlightened educational measures their virulence in the fu- 
ture may be reduced. In the main these evils may be traced 
to two causes: first, the tendency of religion to breed intol- 
erance; and, second, the necessity of making religion assume 
an institutional form. 


348 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


Let us consider first the question of intolerance. To its 
adherents every great faith in its entirety bears the stamp 
of divine authority. From this fact has come much of its 
virility as well as its tendency to make mischief. In the 
thought of the religious devotee his beliefs take on the 
character of absolute certainty. He is willing to concede 
no possibility of error or imperfection in either practice or 
doctrine. As a consequence, he rather naively divides re- 
ligions into two groups, the true and the false, his own and 
all others. He therefore does not hesitate to resort to the 
sword in order to establish what he in his bigotry believes 
to be absolute and final truth. The man, certain that he is 
right, is only a step away from the persecution of others. 
Under these conditions he naturally attaches transcendent 
importance to his own religious beliefs and practices. 
When weighed in the balance with other values, they seem 
of incalculable worth. Hence in this field the most extrava- 
gant behavior may to the zealot appear necessary and right. 
The religious fanatic may have so such confidence in‘his own 
formula that out of love for other men he is willing to 
destroy their bodies in the hope of saving their souls. 

Can intolerance be minimized through education? The 
correction of this intolerance can only be found in an ed- 
ucational program in which the problems of the religious 
life are frankly faced. In this program an effort should be 
made to emphasize those fundamental truths which make 
a common appeal to the majority of the enlightened and 
earnest members of diverse sects. Those religious elements 
which unite peoples rather than divide them should be 
singled out for emphasis. The fugitive and local features 
of religion should give place to the abiding and universal. 
All religious instruction should exhibit that humility of at- 
titude which man must ever feel as he sincerely ponders 
the meaning of life. Representatives of a great religious 


RELIGIOUS LIFE AND EDUCATION 349 


sect, visualizing the need for a universal religion which 
would be acceptable to all men, have suggested that such 
a religion will be one 


surcharged with the universal, ethical principles enunciated by the 
Hebrew prophets rather than based on ancient or medizeval doc- 
trines, customs, and practices; a religion compatible with all 
scientific truth rather than based on the miraculous; a religion 
that conforms to the ideal of constant revelation rather than a 
single act of revelation; a religion without mysteries,! without 
dogmas, hence without superstitions, without hatreds; a religion 
in principle so true, in belief so simple, in spirit so humane, and in 
action so inspired by love that it will guide its followers into that 
brotherhood which is the hope of man. 


What are the evils of formalism? We may now pass toa 
consideration of the second set of forces which may distort 
religious expression. Many of the evils which are ordi- 
narily associated with religion are products of the growth of 
religious forms and institutions. There is always the danger 
of confusing religion with the social structure that bears its 
name. In times past the institution has frequently been 
the bitter enemy of genuinely religious experience, just as 
the school has often been the unconscious opponent of a 
truly educational experience. Especially im the realm of 
religion does the form tend to kill the spirit. Moreover, 
when an institution comes under the influence of some privi- 
leged class or vested interest in society, the inevitable re- 
sult is that sacerdotal forms and customs are brought into 
the service of non-religious ends. The uncritical member 
of a religious sect, losing touch with the spirit, often shifts 
his allegiance to an empty form. Under these conditions 
it is a simple task for unenlightened or unscrupulous inter- 

1 Mysteries here refers to those rites and ceremonies which in most reli- 
gions have been kept esoteric by a priestly class. An appreciation of that 


mystery which must always shroud life and the universe must remain a 
vital part of religion. 


350 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


ests, by manipulating the form to which he is loyal, to force 
his life into narrow or vicious moulds. With the appearance 
of organized religion it becomes respectable and narrowly 
profitable to repeat creeds and observe ceremonials; but at 
the same time it becomes increasingly difficult to make 
these forms serve as channels through which the religious 
life may freely flow. Religion, if it survives this treatment, 
is apt to lead an attenuated existence as an isolated part 
of experience completely dissociated from the rest of life. 
Ceasing to affect moral behavior, and no longer carrying an 
intelligible interpretation of the cosmos, religious practice 
degenerates into meaningless ornament. 

From time immemorial there has been a conflict between 
the prophet and the priest. The former is a man of vision, 
and is the embodiment of living religion; the latter through 
accepted forms follows some prophet of the past, and is the 
exponent of the religion of the dead. The former cares 
nothing for creeds and ceremonies, but much for conduct; 
the latter shows little concern about conduct, but is metic- 
ulous in his observance of forms. ‘The voice of the true 
prophet is heard in these words of Amos: 


I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will take no delight in your 
solemn assemblies. Take thou away from me the noise of thy 
songs; I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment roll 
down as waters, righteousness as a mighty stream. 


Isaiah thus enunciates the same principle: 


Trample my courts no more, bring no more vain oblations. I 
cannot endure wickedness coupled with worship. ... Your hands 
are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil 
of your doings from before mine eyes. 


And one would search the literature of religion long before 
finding anything to equal the scathing denunciation poured 
out by the Christ on those who in his day presumed to 


RELIGIOUS LIFE AND EDUCATION 351 


stand in the place of God on earth. Like the waters of a 
spring, religion tends to become corrupted as it proceeds 
farther and farther from the basic experience out of which it 
flows. 

Can formalism be checked through education? The 
aim of religious education should be to secure for the in- 
dividual an intimate religious experience, rather than to 
inculeate a narrow observance of the outward forms of 
ritual. Its object should be to touch the life of the pupil at 
the center rather than to adorn the periphery with an easy 
skill in the practice of genuflexions, with a becoming grace 
in the wearing of robes, with a faultless manner in the ob- 
servance of ceremonials, and with a perfect intonation in 
the recital of creeds. As James Martineau says: ! 

If I see a man living out of an inner spring of inflexible right and 
pliant piety; if he refuses the colour of the low world around him; 
if his eye flashes with scorn at mean and impure things which 
are a jest to others; if high examples of honour and self-sacrifice 
bring the flush of sympathy upon his cheek; if in his sphere of rule 
he plainly obeys a trust instead of enforcing an arbitrary will, and 
in his sphere of service takes his yoke without a groan, and does 
his work with thought only that it be good; I shall not pry into his 
closet or ask about his creed, but own him at once as the godly man. 


Godliness is the persistent living out an ideal preconception of the 
Right, the Beautiful, the Good. 


The vitality of a conception of life can only be measured 
in terms of its effect on conduct. The professions and 
formal observances of the individual are of small conse- 
quence. Yet the central purpose of the program of religious 
education has been that of preparing children to make such 
professions and observe such forms, and this, in spite of the 
fact that the latter were without basis in their lives. The 
only fault of most of the so-called religious education is that 
it is not religious — it is ecclesiastic. 

1 Martineau, James: Hours of Thought, vol. 1, p. 247. 


352 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


Why is religious faith uncertain? The peculiar need for 
religious education to-day cannot be understood without 
reference to the great changes of recent times. The inti- 
mate contacts of diverse cultures and civilizations have 
shaken the confidence of peoples in the sanctions of the 
inherited moral codes. Old religious beliefs have been 
seriously undermined by those changes in social organiza- 
tion and social thought which have accompanied the growth 
of science and the spread of knowledge. Religion, having 
formed its associations with a relatively primitive culture, 
and with unscientific conceptions about the world, has been 
reluctant to seek new affiliations. From this fact has ap- 
peared in certain quarters the tendency to regard religion as 
a superstition, as a survival from early times, as a portion 
of the swaddling clothes required by the race in its infancy 
but hampering in its maturity. And it must be confessed 
that those who have been delegated by society to guard the 
religious interests have in large measure grossly miscon- 
ceived their function, and have shown no small disposition 
to keep religion securely tied to those conceptions of the 
natural world which modern science has rendered obsoles- 
cent. In their more unenlightened moments they have 
even sought to identify religion with magic and necromancy, 
and to-day, they do not hesitate to dispute the field of 
natural phenomena with the scientists. From each of these 
engagements science emerges unscathed and strengthened, 
while dogmatic religion retires in confusion and dishonor. 
The great injury done is that a growing number of the 
spectators of this unequal contest are convinced that re- 
ligion has lost its erstwhile vigor. Many are being led to 
believe that religion has no special province of its own into 
which the scientist may not enter and exhibit his superiority. 
In refusing to recognize their own limitations and their de- 
pendence on the work of others, and in refusing to give up 


RELIGIOUS LIFE AND EDUCATION 353 


territory to which they have no right, the avowed defenders 
of religion are temporarily in danger of being driven from 
their own legitimate dominion. 

As the development of science has given man a new con- 
ception of his place in the natural world, so the industrial 
and political revolutions have transformed the social world 
in which man lives. To this changed social world religion 
as an institutional force has failed to adapt itself. Because 
of the blindness with which we worship, because of the com- 
parative isolation which separates religious practice from 
the rest of life, because of the cult of authoritative revela- 
tion which dominates theological doctrine, religious practice 
is perhaps the most backward portion of our social heritage. 
For the most part the creative period in the history of re- 
ligious inspiration and thought antedates the coming of the 
industrial era and the rise of the democratic ideal. To be 
sure, the basic principles of the great religions, transcending 
the bounds set by the time and place of their origin, breathe 
a universal spirit, but many of the customary applications 
of those principles reflect the conditions of a semi-barbaric 
and tribal culture. Religious expression, therefore, because 
it clings to the shibboleths of a past age, is forced into a 
secondary place in society and constrained to become the 
handmaiden of the political and economic interests — the 
vital forces of the modern time. Even its friends can only 
say that the religion of our own day is a powerful stabilizing 
force in society which, by serving as a brake on human pas- 
sion and by reconciling the individual to his lot, bars the 
hasty introduction of radical social doctrine and slows down 
the pace of social change. As a great positive agent for in- 
tegrating the life of mankind and for ushering in the King- 
dom of Goodness, religion does not function. The great 
desideratum to-day is a reinterpretation of life and a re- 
statement of the destiny of man which take into account the 


354 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


development of science and the profound social changes of 
recent centuries. 

How does mankind suffer from this uncertainty? Al- 
ready mankind has waited too long for this re-synthesis of 
experience. Religion has consequently lost much of its 
authority and the sanctions which it gave to conduct are 
rapidly falling away. In relative aimlessness, and un- 
conscious of its destiny, the modern world drifts into the 
future. Having sailed beyond those limits in both space and 
thought which hemmed in and sheltered ancient culture, 
the barque of civilization is now in the open sea of doubt and 
uncertainty. Never before in human history has this vessel 
been more in need of a compass, never before have its sails 
been filled by such contrary winds, never before has its crew 
so seriously threatened mutiny. ‘To abandon the figure, 
out of the welter of recent change there has come a condi- 
tion of intellectual and moral bewilderment. The present 
confusion of ideals and values supplies no common ground 
on which men may meet to resolve their difficulties, no ac- 
cepted standards to which they may appeal in the adjust- 
ment of conflict. In a world that has achieved physical 
unity, division marks the minds of men. Over a stout 
barrier of ignorance, prejudice, and misunderstanding, each 
guarding with jealous and watchful eye its own narrow 
interests, Labor faces Capital, Youth faces Age, Pagan 
faces Christian, Black faces White, East faces West. No 
body of ethical principles or common interpretation of life 
exists to which the various races and peoples, classes and 
sects, swear fealty and own allegiance. The development of 
such a spiritual heritage out of the wealth of materials at 
hand should be the first task of the educator. For this re- 
invigoration of religious practice and this reinterpretation 
of life we cannot, as in times past, rely on the authoritative 
revelation of an occasional prophet. ‘This function, which 


RELIGIOUS LIFE AND EDUCATION 355 


should be perpetually discharged, can only be performed 
through the coédrdinated efforts of many individuals, work- 
ing together from age to age. The situation in which we 
find ourselves to-day is thus expressed by Frederick Harri~ 
son: ! 

All our great achievements are being hampered and often 
neutralized, all our difficulties are being doubled, and all our 
moral and social diseases are being aggravated by this supreme and 
dominant fact — that we have suffered our religion to slide from 
us and that in effect our age has no abiding faith in any religion at 


all. The urgent task of our time is to recover a religious faith as a 
basis of life both personal and social. 


Students have wondered why it is that in an age of rela- 
tive material abundance, an age toward which men have 
striven since the beginning of time, men are not content. 
The answer is simple. Without a faith of some sort, with- 
out a faith in which men can believe, men cannot live, men 
must despair. To be tolerable life must seem significant, 
and to be significant it must lead to some end felt to be of 
supreme worth. ‘Though replete with pleasures, unless it 
gives expression to some purpose, life must remain futile. 
Without a sense of duty, without the call to worthy achieve- 
ment, life can contain pleasure but it can afford no happi- 
ness. It is because the modern world lacks a faith in which 
men can believe, rather than because of physical privation, 
that multitudes of men to-day despair. Hardship may 
destroy the body; only the loss of hope can destroy the soul. 
Why should men live? This question the school must 
answer through its program. 

Does contemporary education meet the need? In this 
situation the contemporary education, if not wholly un- 
mindful of the need, is pathetically ineffective. The separa- 
tion of the school and the church, necessary to prevent the 

1 Harrison, Frederick: Autobiographic Memoirs, vol. u, pp. 333-34. 


356 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


domination of education by a narrow ecclesiasticism, has 
made us very cautious of introducing even the religious 
spirit into the educational program. The school has conse- 
quently become so engrossed in the task of bringing the 
individual into adjustment with the secular aspects of his 
environment and the more concrete phases of his surround- 
ings that the necessity for adjustment to the deeper needs 
of man, covering the wider reaches of time and space, has 
been disregarded. Our people are therefore given no per- 
spective, no balance, no breadth of understanding, no 
depth of insight, no basis for a stable and calm appraisal of 
the fortunes of life. 

Under this policy of educational laissez faire the interpre- 
tation of life which men ordinarily possess is of necessity 
woefully inadequate and dangerously superficial. Only too 
often may the representative of our generation be likened 
unto the foolish mariner who takes his bearings from the 
flotsam and jetsam of the sea, rather than from the sun and 
the stars of the heavens; who steers his course by points 
which are being swept onward by the very forces with which 
he is contending, rather than by those which are beyond the 
range of the winds and currents of earth. Even in our 
schools we worship at the altars of the twin goddesses of 
material success and social ostentation; we are relentlessly 
pursued by “ the two vampires of our civilization — haste 
and the crowd.” At every point is our life impoverished by 
an education that fails to give the deeper insight which 
would lend significance to the daily task. 

H. G. Wells thus recognizes the basic educational need 
of our time: 


What should constitute the education of the public man? This 
is something above and outside his attainments, his accomplish- 
ments, his business equipment. . . . These are secondary things. ... 
What is the backbone stuff? The answer today is surely not 


- RELIGIOUS LIFE AND EDUCATION 357 


essentially different from the answer a Greek would have given in 
the time of Plato. He would have said nothing about the im- 
portance of compulsory Egyptian or Sanskrit, and equally nothing 
of a knowledge of simples or metal working. But he would have 
said that the backbone stuff must be a clear and critical knowledge 
of oneself in relation to God and to the universe. 


If this view is broadly interpreted, and if the necessity of 
adjusting instruction to the different levels of ability re- 
ceives proper regard, this religious aim should be the basic 
concern of the education, not only of the public man, but of 
the private citizen as well. Education must take much of 
its inspiration from the pressing need of to-day for a more 
adequate adjustment of the individual to the totality of 
existence. 

What should be the educational program? Concerning 
the need for this synthesis and evaluation of experience all 
far-seeing educators agree, but, weary of sectarian quarrels 
and suspicious of ecclesiastical bickerings, and in spite of 
their realization of the need, these same individuals view 
with apprehension the inauguration of a program of re- 
ligious education. How is the need to be met? In answer- 
ing this query attention should perhaps be first directed to 
what is being done at the present time. An examination of 
current and suggested practice will reveal the nature and 
magnitude of the difficulties which must be faced. Numer- 
ous experiments in religious education are in progress in our 
own and in other countries. The churches, of course, have 
always made some provision for instruction in creed and 
doctrine. For more than a hundred years the Sunday 
School has formed an integral part of the religious organiza- 
tion of a number of sects. More recently in certain in- 
stances the Sunday School has provided for religious in- 
struction at regular periods during the week. Religious 
authorities have also established daily vacation schools for 


358 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


the study of the Bible. But more important for our con- 
sideration is the proposal, already given practical expression 
in certain communities, that clergymen should be admitted 
at stated times to the secular schools for the purpose of 
giving religious instruction to the children of their respective 
denominations. ‘Throughout the Commonwealth of Aus- 
tralia ministers have the right of entry in the public schools. 
And in those countries in which the school and the church 
have never been completely separated, some form of codper- 
ation in promoting religious instruction has always been 
maintained. 

What are the defects of current efforts at religious educa- 
tion? In all of these experiments there are three defects or 
dangers. In the first place, if the responsibility for religious 
instruction is left entirely in the hands of the several 
churches, vast numbers of children will receive no spiritual 
trang. Only one-fourth of the children of the nation at- 
tend Sunday or church schools; and, since many boys and 
girls come from homes which have established no religious 
affiliation, a large proportion of the pupils would remain 
untouched even though clergymen were admitted to the 
schools. 

In the second place, whether religious instruction is pro- 
vided through the Sunday School or under denominational 
auspices during the course of the week, the learning of 
creeds is emphasized, the spirit is sacrificed to the letter, 
sectarian differences are magnified, and those very forces 
which have so frequently stifled religion in the past are 
given free rein. Much of the motivation back of these 
movements and experiments takes its rise from denomina- 
tional rivalry and the interest of each sect in holding its own 
children within the church. 

In the third place, all of these practices and proposals 
suffer from the common defect of identifying religion with 


RELIGIOUS LIFE AND EDUCATION 359 


the interests of a special professional class, and of making 
complete the separation of religion from the school. If 
divorced from the currents of life, neither religion nor 
morals can be successfully taught. The inevitable conse- 
quence of every attempt at this type of instruction is that 
the religious experience appears but a pale and ethereal 
phantom amid the riches of that colorful world in which the 
child plays and works and feels. From the standpoint of 
fostering the religious life this can only be disastrous. 

How may the religious life be fostered? If religious in- 
struction is to be effective, the entire life of the school must 
be penetrated through and through with the religious spirit. 
This spirit must be reflected in the classroom and on the 
playground, in the formal curriculum and in the freer activi- 
ties of the school. While certain religious forms and cere- 
monies might well find a place in the program, experience 
suggests that the worth of their contribution may be easily 
overestimated. ‘Their observance may be unattended by 
genuine religious experience, and without them such an 
experience may be gained. Then, too, where the spirit 
might bind sects together, the form will keep them apart. 
The religious way of viewing the world must grow out of the 
life of the school as naturally as participation in social 
undertakings. 

How may the humanities be utilized? The life of the 
child can be particularly enriched through the humanities 
of the regular curriculum. In story, history, biography, 
literature, and music the child should live through and 
identify himself with the finest religious experiences and 
aspirations of men. He should be led to see in its fullness 
the struggle of the race, through its prophets and seers, for a 
clearer perception of the meaning of life. No account of 
human history can omit this growth of mankind in religious 
stature; no survey of human thought can overlook the 


360 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


masterpieces of religious revelation; no study of human 
poetry can ignore the beauties of religious expression; no 
report of human courage can disregard the devotion of re- 
ligious heroes; no contemplation of human destiny can 
neglect the fruit of religious meditation. From an intimate 
and sympathetic contact with the religious life of mankind, 
religious prophets will take their place in the ideal gallery 
by the side of great leaders in the fields of secular interest, 
the taboos which so often restrict and inhibit the religious 
life to-day will be banished, and the religious side of the 
child’s nature will grow and expand. 

How may science be utilized? Even the study of the 
world of nature, provided this world is constantly viewed 
as the home of man, should make large contributions to the 
growth of the religious life. ‘This does not mean that science 
should be confused with mythology and taught for the 
purpose of contributing to the “ greater glory of God” and 
of revealmg marks of “His infinite wisdom” in nature. 
Equally it should not be taught for the purpose of chasing 
God out of the universe. Rather should science be taught 
for what it is, a most fascinating and fruitful inquiry of man 
into the world of phenomena, an inquiry which does not 
presume to fathom the depths of the world, an inquiry 
whose province lies outside the domain of human values, an 
inquiry whose fundamental postulates touch but the surface 
of life. Science as well as religion has its fanatics. 

In the last analysis science can never tell men what is 
Beautiful and Good, nor even what is ultimate Truth. It 
can count, measure, and catalogue anything that lends it- 
self to enumeration, measurement, and classification. It can 
even draw generalizations from these observations, but it 
can do no more. Because science has pushed back the veil 
of ignorance which formerly blinded the eyes of men in the 
immediately practical affairs of life, because man has conse- 


RELIGIOUS LIFE AND EDUCATION 361 


quently become more independent of drought, storm, and 
pestilence, the thoughtless conclude that religion has been 
superseded by science. As a matter of fact, faulty science 
has merely been superseded by less faulty science. In 
those great crises which from time to time visit both indi- 
viduals and groups, man realizes his final helplessness in the 
universe. Generations of scientific Inquiry have but added 
to the mystery of existence. If, in our study of the world of 
nature, these limitations of science be ever kept before us, 
instead of appearing to be in conflict with religion, science 
will but reveal the need for the wider interpretation of life 
and serve as an indispensable instrument in the realization 
of human destiny. 

How important is the spirit of the school? More im- 
portant to the growth of the religious life than the introduc- 
tion of formal materials, either from the field of the humani- 
ties or from that of the natural sciences, is the general spirit 
of the educational agency. To be truly effective all the 
work of the school should bear a religious aspect, it should 
purposefully reflect an interpretation of life. This, of 
course, does not mean that both the child and the teacher 
should be perpetually weighted down by a grave contempla- 
tion of the infinite, nor that they should forever carry a 
lugubrious and doleful countenance. Whether the general 
tone of life is melancholy or joyous, agitated or serene, de- 
pends on the nature and quality of one’s religion rather than 
on its presence or absence. If an elevated form of religion 
is to work its way into the life of the child, all of the activi- 
ties of the school should be in harmony with it. The Folk 
High School of Denmark affords a splendid illustration of 
an educational institution that has unified its program by 
faithfully adhering at every point to a religious interpreta- 
tion of life. The unity of purpose which this institution has 
thus achieved has probably been responsible, in no small 


362 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


measure, for the unrivaled services which it has rendered in 
promoting the social and economic reconstruction of this 
Baltic State during the last half century. 

How important is the character of the teacher? Of de 
cisive importance is the attitude and equipment of the 
teachers. To a large degree they form the traditions of the 
school and create its atmosphere. If they are religious men 
and women, the boys and girls who come under their in- 
fluence will partake of their character. But if they pass 
lightly over, ignore, or, as is sometimes the case, mock at 
the deeper meanings of life, or if they are embarrassed when 
faced with a religious problem, no amount of theoretical 
religious instruction can set at naught the perpetual opera- 
tion of the silent forces of example. Those in charge of our 
schools, therefore, must themselves frankly wrestle with 
those great problems of life which are styled religious. Un- 
til this defect 1s remedied, until our teachers are given a 
thorough religious training, the school cannot foster the 
religious life. 

Can religious instruction have definite objectives? [if 
the public school is to have any share in religious education, 
the practical difficulties which must be met are enormous. 
Our long tradition of the separation of church and school 
makes all but impossible any general agreement on objec- 
tives. Yet, if the work of the school is to be effective, there 
must be objectives. In the ordinary community they would 
of necessity be confined to those basic and relatively non- 
contentious elements which the great religions hold in 
common. ‘This suggestion possesses the double merit of 
being most feasible and of covering the greatest need. 

Following the analysis suggested by Bobbitt, the school 
should strive to give to every child the ability to see the 
natural environment “as a vast and restless sea of forces 
and phenomena, infinite in number, extent, subtlety, and 


RELIGIOUS LIFE AND EDUCATION 363 


complexity”; a faith in the benevolence of the cosmic order 
toward those who seek to understand and conform to its 
laws; a feeling of intimate kinship with nature and the 
whole of the phenomenal world; a lifelong wonder in the 
presence of the marvelous manifestations of life-and na- 
ture; a conviction that the feelings, sufferings, and aspira- 
tions of men are weighed in the scales of the forces of 
creation; a faith that righteous conduct is the finest prod- 
uct of the universe; a confidence in the power of men to 
choose between good and evil; a sense of membership in 
a universal brotherhood of men; a firm resolve to live 
in accord with that purpose which moves through the uni- 
verse to fulfillment; a cheerful acquiescence in the demands 
for personal sacrifice in the promotion of the greater good; 
a feeling of deep security in the future which lies beyond the 
grave; a habit of thoughtful meditation on the meaning and 
value of life; an eagerness to engage in the eternal quest for 
the True, the Beautiful, and the Good; and, finally, a clear 
perception of and faithful allegiance to that ideal kingdom 
of peace and good will which for ages has been the hope of 
man, a kingdom in which justice will “ roll down as waters, 
righteousness as a mighty stream.” 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


1. Show how the harmonization of the health, family, economic, civic, 
and recreational activities is dependent on an interpretation of 
existence which transcends the bounds of any one of these realms and 
which is essentially religious. 

%. How have the changes in the other agencies which are concerned with 
moral and religious instruction, particularly the church and the home, 
affected the responsibilities of the school for instruction in this field? 

3. Justify the statement that the absence of religious instruction in the 
school is not to be traced to indifference to religious matters on the 
part of the various groups of the community, but rather to an extreme 
regard for religion which gives rise to the fear that their own particu- 
lar beliefs will not be taught. 

4. Why do we attach such an extreme value to human life? Show how 


364 


10. 


11. 


12. 


13. 


14. 


PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


this conception which influences all human relationships depends 
upon an interpretation of human existence which lies outside the 
confines of science. 


. Show how the data of science must be taken into account by religion, 


but that science can never take over the religious function. 


. Why is science, because of its very nature, unable to determine the 


ends of human activity? How, then, does science serve man in the 
attainment of his ends? 


. Why is the proposed search for a religion without mystery a vain 


quest? What is the distinction between mystery in religion and 
superstition in religion? 


. In what respects is it true that religion touches morality with emo- 


tion, and at the same time gives to morality an added significance? 


. In the absence of those religious sanctions which have been such 


potent forces in the control of behavior, would it be possible, through 
a purely secular education, to provide effective substitutes for these 
guiding forces in human conduct? 

Why is the separation of the school from the church and from religious 
instruction, which is ordinarily regarded as the solution of the prob- 
lem of religious education, in actual fact an ostrich-like refusal to face 
frankly a pressing problem? Suppose similar treatment were ac- 
corded to debatable social and economic problems, what would be 
the outcome? 

What are the outstanding pedagogical difficulties in carrying out a 
program of religious instruction in which, of necessity, the factual el- 
ements are subsidiary to the appreciations and orientations involved? 
Show the dangers inherent in the conception of religion as a force 
which encourages man in docile fashion to accept, as inevitable, 
evil conditions which through his own efforts could be ameliorated? 
What are the religious and social causes which bring into existence 
clearly differentiated sects? How does sectarianism make but 
limited use of the wealth of the religious heritage of mankind? 

What criticism would you make of the general educational practice 
of failing to acquaint the pupils with the lives and teachings of the 
great religious leaders and prophets? How would such acquaintance 
defeat the narrow purposes of sectarianism? 


PART FOUR 


WHAT PRINCIPLES GOVERN THE CONDUCT 
OF THE SCHOOL? 


To further health and conserve human life, to enable man to direct, ime 
prove, and enjoy the activities of the family, industry, citizenship, recrea- 
tion, and religion, the formal educational agencies have been created. 
Through the elementary school, the secondary school, the college, and the 
various vocational and professional school’, society supplements the in- 
formal agencies and gives conscious direction to human effort. The deter- 
mination of the proper function, place, and procedures of each of these in- 
stitutions is becoming the major problem of each generation. Without a 
sound educational practice a sound educational philosophy is barren. Only 
as the curriculum is well chosen, only as effective methods are employed, 
only as the opportunities of education are adequately extended, only as 
provision is made for differences in capacity, only as the more gifted individ- 
uals are selected for the advanced educational privileges, only as teachers of 
superior talent and training are employed, only as the educational enter- . 
prise is liberally supported, only as the school is controlled by wise and dis- 
interested counsel, can formal education succeed in fashioning a better 
order of humanity. The achievement of this task, the adjustment of educa- 
tion to the needs of society at any time and at any level of culture, requires 
a most carefully analyzed and organized system of instruction. But as 
social life becomes increasingly complex and as the educational agencies 
grow in number and variety, the administration of education becomes 
correspondingly complex. Human happiness, human achievement and 
human destiny become intimately dependent upon a wisely conceived and 
effectively administered educational system. In a modern society, a 
society which is committed to science, industrial specialization, and de- 
mocracy, how can the fuller educational aims be consummated? What are 
the means for realizing these ends? How can society guarantee that each 
member may have life and may have it more abundantly? What are the 
fundamental principles which should govern the conduct of the specialized 
educational agency? 


The consideration of these issues requires a discussion of the following 
problems: 


PropieM 18. Wuat ConstTITUTES THE VALUE OF A SCHOOL STUDY OR 
Activity ? 

ProsiEM 19. WHat 1s THE FUNCTION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL? 

ProspieM 20. WHat is THE FUNCTION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL? 

ProsuieM 21. WHat is THE FUNCTION OF THE COLLEGE? 

ProsBieM 22, WHAT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE SCHOOL FOR VocaA-~ 
TIONAL EDUCATION ? 

Prospuiem 23. Wuat Meruops sHouLp ContTrROoL THE Conpuct oF IN- 
STRUCTION ? 

PrRoBLEM 24. To wHOM SHOULD Society DELEGATE THE EDUCATIONAL 
Function? 

ProspuLeM 25. How sHoutp Society SupPpoRT AND CONTROL THE Epvue 
CATION? 


PROBLEM 18 


WHAT CONSTITUTES THE VALUE OF A SCHOOL 
STUDY OR ACTIVITY? 


Why is the question of values so important? — Why does educational 
practice force evaluation? — Why must the school articulate with social 
life? — Why is the school expanding its curriculum so rapidly? — How 
does this expansion demand the recognition of the principle of relative 
values in curriculum construction? — What are the criteria for judging the 
worth of a school activity? — How can the school avoid duplicating the 
work of other agencies? — How does capacity of the individual control the 
selection and conduct of activity? — How must interest control the selec- 
tion and conduct of activity? — What are the important activities of life? 
— How do the six basic life interests provide the materials for education? — 
How should the common activities of social life affect the curriculum? — 
How does the theory of mental discipline give a false simplicity? — How 
can the theory of mental discipline be restated in modern terms? — Are all 
subjects equal in forming intellectual habits? — To what extent do habits 
transfer? — What are the conditions of transfer at the higher levels? — 
What is the relation of interest, content, and procedure? — How are content 
and procedure values regarded in present educational practice? — How 
may these ideas be applied to the elective system? — What are the dangers 
of abstract discussion of values? 


Why is the question of values soimportant? In view of the 
limited time given to formal education, the importance of 
the problem of selecting for any particular individual the 
most advantageous school activities in which he shall par- 
ticipate is patent. Upon the nature of these activities, upon 
their breadth and thoroughness depend the satisfactions 
which the individual will derive from his own life, and the 
satisfactions which he will afford to others. But to give a 
final answer to the question as to what constitutes the value 
of a school study, or, as we prefer to call it, a school activity, 
is impossible. 'To answer this question at all profoundly 
would carry us into the dim region of philosophical specula- 


368 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


tion, where the ultimate values of life are investigated. In 

this discussion we shall have to limit ourselves to practical 
aspects of the problem and in so doing we shall lay ourselves 
open to the criticism of being both superficial and dogmatic. 
But even though we attempt to confine our attention to 
some of the simpler aspects of the problem, we shall from 
time to time be forced to recognize the more profound im- 
plications. 

Why does educational practice force evaluation? In view 
of the great individual differences in original nature, in view 
of the intense specialization of modern living, it is futile to 
attempt the general evaluation of an activity without refer- 
ence to the specific individual who is to undertake it. An 
activity only has value, for a particular person at a particular 
time, with a particular biological and educational history, 
and with a particular future. An activity cannot be judged 
in vacuo, it is always the activity of a definite person tak- 
ing place in a peculiar setting, and having certain conse- 
quential effects on the activities of others. In spite of this, 
the educator is compelled to select subjects of instruction 
and organize programs of studies for various groups of chil- 
dren, and thus to assign values to the various activities of the 
school. When for the whole population a series of activities, 
or, in other words, a certain portion of the course of study, is 
made compulsory, there is the definite assumption that the 
resulting educational product, regardless of the divergent 

' and varied future careers, is of value to each individual of 
the group. Whenever, on the other hand, participation in a 
series of activities is made optional, the implicit assumption 
is that these activities are not sufficiently universal to 
justify submitting all persons to the training they afford. 
When we consider the multitude of activities that have some 
claim to inclusion in the courses of study of our various 
educational institutions, and when we realize that relative 


THE VALUE OF A SCHOOL ACTIVITY 369 


values must be assigned to these studies for the guidance of 
the student, we see the enormous responsibility which the 
framers of the curriculum and the advisers of the students 
must assume, if they are to perform their work in a manner 
calculated to yield the best results to the body politic. 

Why is there such need for the intelligent determination 
of values? Overwhelmed by the complexity of the issue, 
knowing full well that many of his decisions will reflect a 
limited vision of the nature of the individual and of the so- 
ciety for which men are striving, the educator is tempted to 
adopt the present lavssez-faire attitude toward the curricu- 
lum. He refuses to be the arbiter in matters which are so 
surcharged with human happiness and he is reluctant to 
make decisions upon which social welfare and destiny de- 
pend. The period of compulsory education is being ex- 
tended; increasing demands are being made upon higher 
education by large groups of individuals whose needs and 
powers are unknown. Never have the opportunities of 
higher education been offered to persons of such varying 
backgrounds and diverse futures.. Obviously there is need 
for rigorous and sincere thinking on every phase of the cur- 
riculum problem. Whether or not the responsibility is 
welcome, decisions of great moment have to be made; to re- 
fuse to act is, in effect, not to reserve the judgment, but to 
make a positive decision for the generation in our schools 
that our present procedures, devised to meet a very different 
situation in the past, are adequate to-day. 

Why must the school articulate with social life? Inertia, 
tradition, self-interest and ignorance have all been operative 
to prevent the courses of study of our various educational 
institutions from keeping pace with and reflecting the chang« 
ing conceptions of education, the changing conditions of 
our civilization and the changing relations of social life. 
There is always a lag between the adaptative devices of 


370 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


education and the demands of the social situation. The 
progressiveness of a society varies inversely as the extent 
of this lag. Over any long period of time the health of 
society is most intimately dependent upon the close articula- 
tion of the activities of the school with those of life. As the 
school activities are well chosen, relatively efficient individ- 
uals will assume the tasks and forward the ideals of a better 
social order; as they are poorly chosen, initiates who have 
failed to realize their own possibilities will enter adult life 
inadequately equipped to understand its needs or perform 
its labors. 

Why is the school expanding its curriculum so rapidly? 
The vast number of studies which are clamoring for admis- 
sion to the curriculum of the school is a product of four allied 
social phenomena: 

(1) The decline in the effectiveness of the unspecialized 

educational agencies. 

(2) The development of scientific knowledge with refer- 

ence to life activities. 

(3) The growing belief that organized and systematic in- 

struction is superior to casual and desultory learning. 

(4) The increasing faith that the school can reduce the 

gulf that exists between the activity as it is pursued 
under present conditions, and the activity as it might 
be pursued under more favorable conditions — the 
creation of these favorable conditions constituting the 
problem of education. 

How does this expansion demand the recognition of the 
principle of relative values in curriculum construction? In 
spite of this crowding of activities upon the formal agency 
there is a common idea among those who frame the curricu- 
lum of our elementary and high schools that, provided a sub- 
ject can be demonstrated to be of value to the proposed 
learner, perforce, a place must be found for it in the curric- 


THE VALUE OF A SCHOOL ACTIVITY 371 


ulum. This is fundamentally wrong; the problem is not 
one of absolute but of relative value. Few activities which 
have received the serious consideration of the framers of 
school curricula are without value. The question that 
should be asked is: For the group of individuals involved, 
has the particular activity under consideration sufficient 
value to justify its inclusion in preference to other possible 
activities which it will displace? 

What are the criteria for judging the worth of a school 
activity? In view of the pressure brought to bear by limited 
time on the scope of the activities of the school, it will be well 
for us to examine in a general way some of the more im- 
portant considerations which determine the worth of a 
school activity. The criteria controlling the selection of 
the studies must be carefully chosen and then fearlessly 
applied. The following four principles suggest themselves: 

(1) The activity must be one not provided by the out-of- 
school training. 

(2) The activity must be within the capacity of the indi- 
vidual. 

(3) The activity must, as far as is consistent with crite- 
rion (4), be of interest to the individual. 

(4) The activity must with the maximum economy of 
time leave behind it, in the form of habits, skills, 
knowledges, procedures and ideals, powers which will, 
with a high degree of probability, be employed by the 
individual in the important activities of his life.! 

As we examine each of these tests, and as we combine 

them into a single composite measure of an activity, we shall 

1 Logical organization might suggest that the fourth criterion be placed 
first in the list. The justification for placing it fourth is found in the fact 
that the other criteria are simple and relatively easy of application. They 
can therefore be disposed of quickly, that the decks may be cleared for a 


consideration of the fourth criterion which involves a number of thorny 
issues, 


372 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


realize how complex are the psychological and sociological 
issues involved in curriculum construction. 

How can the school avoid duplicating the work of other 
agencies? ‘The first criterion calls attention to the obvious 
fact that care must be taken lest the school, pressed for time, 
duplicate activities which are given adequate exercise in 
the out-of-school life. This would seem to be a perfectly 
straightforward criterion and one exceedingly easy to apply. 
It is patent that the mechanics of reading and figuring are 
activities which incidental training outside the school does 
not afford. In cases of this kind the application of the 
criterion creates no difficulty. Still less is there any degree 
of doubt, purely on the basis of this criterion, when the 
formal aspects of grammar, algebra, Latin, or botany are 
under consideration. The more specialized and advanced 
education becomes, the more obvious is the application of 
this principle. Passing from these activities about which 
there is little uncertainty, we get into regions of difficulty 
when we consider the advisability of introducing into the 
school program such activities as systematic physical exer- 
cise, health instruction, training in cooking, dressmaking and 
child rearing, the elementary facts of economic and civic 
life, the rudiments of numerous games and recreations, and 
the simple facts of the moral order. Does not the training 
outside the school produce the proficiency and provide the 
understanding which life demands in these activities? This 
question is still further complicated by the diversity in home 
and community conditions under which the out-of-school 
life is led. These conditions vary greatly from pupil to 
pupil in the same school. Unquestionably, children coming 
from the better homes receive training in certain directions 
which the school may duplicate wastefully. Under a 
strictly individualized instruction, for these favored pupils 
those activities for which the home training was adequate 


THE VALUE OF A SCHOOL ACTIVITY 378 


would be omitted. But, in the school as it is now organized 
with its heterogeneous groups, such detailed valuation of 
each activity for each individual is impossible. To use the 
classical phrase, we must predict on the uncertain basis of 
the greatest good for the greatest number. 

The policy of the school has always been to refuse to 
undertake systematic instruction in any field where other 
agencies, particularly the family, the church and commu- 
nity life were capable of meeting the need. But, it has, from 
time to time, because of functional changes in other institu- 
tions and on account of the growth of knowledge and in- 
creasing complexity of life at certain points, introduced new 
studies and activities into the curriculum. This should be 
the consistent policy of the school as a specialized institu- 
tion; a policy which, if effectively carried out, compels the 
educator to study very carefully the performance and _po- 
tentialities of all the informal agencies of education. Only 
in this way can there be any assurance that the school is 
neither duplicating effort nor assuming that other agencies 
are performing services which in point of fact they fail to 
render. If these two errors are to be avoided, the school, as 
an institution integrating with all the other agencies, must 
keep in the closest sociological touch with all the external 
forces which play upon the citizen during his pre-school, 
school, and after-school life. _ 

As education becomes more conscious of the essential con- 
ditions under which it must operate, there can be little doubt : 
that large school systems will be compelled to organize much 
more fully than at present systematic means whereby the 
shortcomings of society in educational influence, and the 
needs of communal and home life are more adequately de- 
termined. ‘To what extent is the school duplicating the 
effective work of outside agencies? ‘To what extent are the 
children receiving adequate health and sex instruction? To 


374 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


what extent are the trade, semi-professional and professional 
schools adapting their curricula to the needs of the social 
situation? ‘To what extent is the civic, recreational and re- 
ligious life being understood and appreciated? Where does 
formal education need to be extended? Increasingly, these 
and similar questions will have to be answered in the light 
of information carefully and laboriously collected by a 
Department of Sociological Research, supported by the 
various educational institutions or else maintained by out- 
side foundations. ‘Teachers, from the very nature of their 
task and the setting of their activity, cannot answer these 
questions. Special bodies of investigators are required, 
both to sense the problems and to procure the information 
necessary for their solution. 

How does capacity of the individual control the selection 
and conduct of activity? The second criterion, that the 
activity must be within the capacity of the pupil, seems so 
apparent as hardly to need mention. This principle would 
not merit consideration were it not for the constant tendency 
on the part of educators to attempt (1) to curtail the neces- 
sarily long process of education; (2) to extend an intellec- 
tualized education to all individuals, irrespective of capacity. 
The exacting demands of his present life and the wider social 
life which awaits the child always press heavily upon those in 
charge of instruction. ‘These demands, combined with the 
short period of formal training, and an ignorance of the intel- 
lectual capacity of the pupil, often cause the schoolmaster, 
in the interests of accelerating the necessarily tedious process 
of learning, to submit his pupils to processes which are so 
complex in their nature as to be ill-adapted to the stage of 
development of the pupil. The history of education abounds 
in illustrations of the violation of this second principle. Chil- 
dren have been treated as miniature adults and have been 
compelled to undertake studies far beyond their compre- 


THE VALUE OF A SCHOOL ACTIVITY 375 


hension. In the field of education the longest way round is 
often the shortest way home. Not only must this criterion 
determine the sequence of educational activity, but, because 
of the enormous individual differences in learning capacity, 
it must be used to decide whether an activity can with profit 
be introduced at any time into the educational program of 
the pupil. Particularly is this necessary in a country which 
is in process of experimenting with universal higher educa- 
tion. Mere bodily presence while an activity is in progress 
is without potency; the value of the activity can be meas- 
ured only by the dispositions which are left in the partici- 
pator. When carefully constructed tests reveal that the 
pupil is not deriving benefit, the solution of the difficulty 
may not, as many assume, be more of the activity; rather 
what may be required is the abandonment of this particular 
study and a substitution of some activity which is proved to 
be within the capacity of the learner. Nothing is more con- 
ducive to discouragement and more deadening to the atti- 
tude upon which successful learning and living depend than 
submitting the pupil to a course of instruction which lies out- 
side his capacity. 

Impressed by the danger of thrusting the individual into 
activities which are beyond his powers, certain educators 
have gone so far as to deny that the activities of the wider 
social life are the guiding and assessing factors in determin- 
ing the worth of school activities. They have denounced 
the doctrine that education should be regarded as a prep- 
aration for adult activities, and have stressed the notion 
that all the activities of the school should be measured in 
terms of their contribution to making meaningful the pres- 
ent experiences of the individual. As a reaction to a curric: 
ulum which is wholly adult in its conception, this plea for 
present meaning is valuable; it automatically prevents the 
selection of subject-matter which is beyond the capacity of 


376 _ PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


the learner. But that the present limited and unintegrated 
life interests of the pupil can of themselves furnish the goal of 
the educative process is an unsound hypothesis. Further- 
more, inasmuch as this theory provides no guidance in 
choosing the aspects of the present life of the pupil which 
should be elaborated and made meaningful to him, it is a 
relatively barren educational doctrine. If the exponents of 
this theory are sincere with themselves, they are compelled 
to admit that those aspects of the pupil’s present experience, 
which in actual practice they isolate and to which they at- 
tempt to give meaning, are selected because of their value as 
a preparation for participation in the more mature activities 
of his group. ‘The divergence between these two points of 
view is not so great as might seem, for the child, during the 
time that he is a learner, is living in close touch with many of 
the activities from which spring the problems of adult life. 
In spite of the fact that in certain circles scorn attaches to 
the conception of the aim of education as preparation for 
later life and in spite of the dangers already stressed at- 
tending this aim, we would claim that it is the safest crite- 
rion for judging the values of pupil activities. But to this 
point we shall return when we consider the fourth criterion 
of worth. 

How must interest control the selection and conduct of 
activity? The third criterion of a school activity is that it 
call forth interest on the part of those who participate in it. 
The factor of interest must always be considered by those 
who control the studies and methods of the school; but in- 
terest as the major criterion for the selection of subject- 
matter is a pernicious guide. ‘The fundamental assumption 
lying back of the philosophy of instruction which would have 
interest dictate the nature of the activity is in error; the im- 
mature individual, by reason of his very immaturity, cannot 
assess his interest in an activity in the light of its potential- 


THE VALUE OF A SCHOOL ACTIVITY 377 


ities. He will often show interest in an activity out of which 
nothing can grow, and, on the other hand, for long periods, 
will often fail to identify himself, of his own initiative, with 
activities which are basic to successful adaptation in a com- 
plicated world. Any system of education which sets up 
child or student interest as its guiding star is doomed to 
failure. In the determination of the nature of the activities, 
not the temporary and often misguided interest of a rela- 
tively ignorant pupil, but the requirements of a well-con- 
ceived society constitute the final standard of value. Pro- 
vided the activity satisfies the other criteria, and especially 
the fourth, the greatest ingenuity must be used in making it of 
intellectual and social interest to the pupil. ‘This is essential, 
not only because interest is in a way its own justification, 
but, also, because numerous studies of improvement reveal 
the enormous potency of interest in facilitating the process 
of learning. We would go even further and make the point 
that, for the sake of ensuring a satisfied learner, minor 
sacrifices of later values must be made to court interest. 
But, at the same time, we would deplore the present extreme 
tendency to allow the degree of sacrifice to be so great as to 
imperil the great social function of the school. The school 
must follow the interests of the immature in order to create 
interests which are more serviceable in the situations of 
later life. The special educational agency exists to create 
interest in matters which are remote and do not appeal 
naturally to the child mind. On this account we would de- 
nounce as ranting cant the sentimental doctrine that the 
child must not be stimulated to join in activities which at 
their inception and also during their prosecution cannot com- 
pete in interest with the more primitive play activities 
naturally satisfying to the human. The fact remains that 
many activities of the school are so necessary to the organ- 
ization and needs of social life, that, whether initially or 


378 ‘ PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


finally they: are intrinsically as interesting as competing 
activities, the child must be required to participate in them. 
We may conclude the discussion of this criterion by making 
the broad general statement that particularly at the level of 
universal education considerations of the immediate interest 
of a study decide the methods which will be employed in 
presentation rather than settle the question as to its inclu- 
sion or exclusion. 

How must the wider social life control the selection of 
school activities? ‘The extreme importance of the fourth 
criterion has already been stressed. According to this 
criterion the activity must, with the maximum economy of 
time, leave behind it, in the form of habits, skills, knowl- 
edges, procedures, and ideals, powers which with a high de- 
gree of probability will be employed by the individual in im- 
portant activities of his life. While this statement on the 
surface appears platitudinous, our discussion will show that 
its practical application forces us into the realm of bitter 
educational dissension. In what follows the reader can be 
introduced only to some of the more salient points around 
which this dispute centers. 

If we assume that a school activity must prepare the indi- 
vidual for his important adult activities, two questions 
arise at once: 

(a) What are the important common activities of life? 

(b) How is it possible to predict, for a particular pupil, 

the nature of his specialized adult activities? 
The impossibility of giving definite answers to either of 
these questions, both fundamental to the construction of a 
course of study, shows how hazardous is the undertaking of 
assigning values to the various school activities. 

What are the important activities of life? ‘The first ques- 
tion as to what are the important activities of life opens up 
a wide field of controversy. Only as colorless answers are 


THE VALUE OF A SCHOOL ACTIVITY 379 


given to this question can there be any agreement; and the 
answers are only agreeable because they are vague. For ex- 
ample, all would concur in the statement that an activity 
has value to the extent that participation in it yields a bal- 
ance of human satisfaction. The narrow question has been 
answered, but others have been raised which are equally 
difficult. Must the satisfaction be immediate or deferred? 
How can satisfactions of the same individual in different 
activities be appraised? How can the satisfaction of one 
individual be evaluated in terms of the satisfactions of 
others? What constitutes the legitimacy of a satisfaction? 
Is an activity to be judged by the satisfactions which it 
brings in our present disordered society? ‘These questions 
have been raised to show how profound are the issues in- 
volved. Let no man think that the problem of curriculum 
construction consists simply in cataloguing the activities 
of our present society, and on this basis— certainly a false 
one — assigning values to school activities. ‘That no final 
answer can be given to these questions may be admitted at 
once. Only a mind that mirrors the universe can afford to 
be dogmatic on life values. 

How do the six basic life interests provide the materials 
for education? In view of these difficulties we may be ex- 
cused if we cut the Gordian knot of determining the im- 
portant activities of life by reference to the discussion of the 
problems in Part Three. Ina general way we examined the 
basic and significant activities of man as these are reflected 
in the great human institutions. One is forced to believe 
that as these activities are more intelligently conducted, 
mankind progresses; as they are undertaken without ade- 
quate training, mankind falters; as they are entered upon 
through an ill-conceived education, mankind regresses. In 
accordance with this philosophy of life, and at the risk of 
being accused of begging the question, we may say that the 


380 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


activities of the school must be selected and directed to give 
to each pupil a maximum share consistent with his capacity 
in the enterprise of improving ! the conditions under which 
operate: (1) physical life; (2) family life;. (3) industrial life; 
(4) civic life; (5) recreational life; (6) religious life. 

These basic life activities — activities in large measure 
common to all men — abound in problems which challenge 
education at all levels of instruction; whether in the ele- 
mentary or secondary school, the college or professional 
school, there are habits, skills, knowledges, procedures and 
ideals which must be inculcated, if these six aspects of life 
are to be guided by intelligence. General elementary knowl- 
edge of each of these activities at the elementary levels, more 
advanced general knowledge of each at the intermediate 
levels, training for performing some specialized service or for 
coping with the more difficult problems of some specialized 
aspect of these life activities, at the highest: levels — these 
are the bases for the selection of school studies. On this 
account these life activities which further health and find 
expression in the home, industry, citizenship, recreation, and 
religion must be critically examined to discover the material 
they afford and the problems they present to education. 
These activities must be scrutinized not only to ascertain 
the present modes of operation but also to elicit information 
with a view to their constant modification. In this way 
alone can they be made to satisfy more deeply the higher 
wants of an ever-widening circle of men. Unless education 
is to maintain a static society, it cannot assume that indi- 
viduals must be trained to conduct these activities as they 
are now taking place in our society. Education must evalu- 


1 By “improvement” any particular writer can only mean that modifica- 
tion of the activity which, in all probability, will give greater opportunity 
to each individual to create and enjoy those human satisfactions which ac< 
cording to the theory of values held by the writer are most worthy. 


THE VALUE OF A SCHOOL ACTIVITY 381 


ate present practices and future possibilities, and in the light 
of this evaluation proceed to fashion its course of instruction. 
The less profitable and even vicious elements in the various 
institutions must be eliminated while those elements which 
work for the conservation and advancement of human life 
must be stressed. 

How must each study show its relationship to these basic 
activities? The curriculum of the school increasingly must 
demonstrate its obvious and direct contribution to the ef- 
fective continuance and steady improvement of the six 
aspects of life which have been discussed. The words 
“obvious” and “direct”? are purposely employed because 
the wide nature of these six aspects of life may serve as an 
excuse for the introduction of almost any activity. No 
activity, meriting serious consideration for inclusion in the 
curriculum of a school, could fail to be justified in terms of 
some indirect and remote contribution to some phase of life. 
When, however, those who champion the retention of a cer- 
tain study, or the introduction of a new study, are made to 
assume the burden of proving the extreme likelihood that the 
activities included in the study will make an obvious and 
direct contribution to the individual participant when en- 
gaging in some important life activity, there will be a dis- 
tinct step of advance. This obvious and direct contribution 
will have to be described in specific terms. The glittering 
generalities, which for too long a time have been employed 
to justify many studies, will be discounted in favor of defi- 
nite objectives, sociologically evaluated, and shown by 
definite tests of achievement to be attainable by the pupils. 
It is the irony of fate that Latin, which for the larger section 
of its students has been justified in such vague terms, should 
be the first subject in the school curriculum to be compelled 
to submit itself to minute scrutiny as to its aims and to the 
possibility of their attainment. As critics or champions of 


382 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


other subjects voluntarily undertake similar studies or are 
driven to assume the responsibility for like investigations in 
their respective fields, a new era in curriculum construction 
and intelligent student guidance will arrive. 

How should the common activities of social life affect the 
curriculum? The fundamental life activities which we have 
examined in Part Three must always serve as the final refer- 
ence in the construction of the curriculum of educational in- 
stitutions. Whether we consider the activities which are 
common to all men and women irrespective of their special- 
ized occupations or those other activities which, while es- 
sential to the continuance of society are carried on by partic- 
ular groups of individuals, the guidance which an examina- 
tion of life activities provides is basic. But in considering the 
relation of education to these specialized occupations the 
further question must be faced: Is it possible to predict, for 
a particular pupil, the nature of his occupational activities 
in adult life? The undesirability and in fact the impossi- 
bility of answering this question at all early in the career of 
the pupil has led to the present practice of making the initial 
eight years or even sixteen years of school training essen- 
tially unspecialized in its nature, so unspecialized at times as 
to be disadvantageous. 

How should the specialized activities of social life affect 
the curriculum? For pupils who are to leave school ai fifteen 
it is generally agreed that little should be done in the way of 
specific preparation for narrow callings; beyond this age an 
increasing responsibility must be felt for making the educa- 
tion of those who are to leave school without attending col- 
lege bear a direct and intimate relation to the basic life 
activities and in some cases to the probable future special- 
ized occupation. At this level of instruction close articula- 
tion with special skills and knowledges of the occupation is 
only desirable where the calling is complex or preparation 


THE VALUE OF A SCHOOL ACTIVITY 383 


cannot be provided within the industry. For a smaller 
group of the school population the period of general educa- 
tion in our present unanalyzed practice is continued to the 
close of the college course. Only at the end of this period 
does the specific vocational training begin to function in the 
various professional schools, or in the vocation itself. The 
general nature of the education of the majority of students 
during the later period of the college course is not so much 
dictated by its superiority to a more specific education look- 
ing to the future career of the student, as by the impossibility 
of predicting for the student what will be the nature of this 
career. On account of this desire to leave every avenue 
open and to postpone definite vocational decision there is 
great waste in educational effort in our higher institutions. 
In the interests of making higher education more valuable, 
there are formidable arguments to be adduced in favor of 
making the student choose, much earlier than at present, 
his probable future calling. As society becomes more defi- 
nitely organized it is a safe prediction to make that pres- 
sure will be brought to bear in this direction. This move- 
ment in higher education towards a training bearing more 
specific relation to vocation must be contrasted with the 
opposite tendency which should control the elementary 
and earlier secondary period. Here education should be 
increasingly freed from any narrow vocational dominance. 
Under conditions as they exist now for many students in 
our colleges who lack the intellectual interest necessary for 
the liberal course, the generality of the aim easily degenerates 
into aimlessness. ‘The resulting deleterious effect on the 
work of these institutions is patent. Whether the disad- 
vantages accompanying an early decision would not be much 
more than compensated for by the greater incentive to the 
student which would accompany a course having a closer 
relation to his future specific career is a matter for serious 


384 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


debate. Our colleges abound with individuals of limited 
capacity who are using their time to relatively little ad- 
vantage because their courses of study are so general as to 
have little obvious and direct relationship to any specific life 
occupation. Whether America can afford to spend the effort 
and money on individuals as aimless as are many of the 
mediocre and inferior students of our colleges is a serious 
question that must be faced. If the introduction of a more 
concrete type of instruction centering about the basic ac- 
tivities of life and a more efficient mode of vocational guid- 
ance could do anything to quicken and give point to the 
activities of this growing group of mediocre and inferior 
students in their later education, any expenditure of effort 
in this direction would: be well repaid. Certain it is that if 
our college course were longer than at present the moment of 
vocational decision would be delayed still further; no clear- 
ance of the air makes decision easy at the end of the four- 
year period; economic facts force the issue. How great 
would be the evils attending a compulsory decision earlier in 
the college course? ‘This problem should receive the close 
attention of all students of higher education. ‘The proposal 
would revolutionize for the group for which it is designed the 
content and spirit of the later years of instruction, and 
would leave the college of liberal arts free to perform its 
unique function. A general aim is unquestionably proper 
during approximately the first ten years of education; but an 
intimate knowledge of the conditions in higher education 
reveals the fact that except for the intellectual few, for whom 
a continued general education is definite preparation for 
future career, it is a distinctly dangerous objective. 

How does the theory of mental discipline give a false sim- 
plicity to the problem? ‘The difficulty of evaluating in any 
detail the activities of life, and the still greater difficulty of 
predicting the future career of the pupil, has led in the his- 


THE VALUE OF A SCHOOL ACTIVITY 385 


tory of education to an ingenious theory by which these two 
difficulties are largely sidestepped. In the simple begin- 
nings of formal instruction all subjects introduced into the 
curriculum showed with reference to social needs the ob- 
vious and direct contribution which has been stressed. As 
social life widened and assumed new forms and values, as 
the fields which gave scope to human activity broadened, as 
the basis on which the older disciplines rested was questioned, 
as the body of knowledge grew and expanded, the necessity 
for selection became pressing. ‘This selection brought into 
question the value of certain studies which had long held 
undisputed sway in the schools; these studies, no longer mak- 
ing an obvious and direct contribution to life, had derived a 
vested interest in the school program and, consequently, re- 
fused to be lightly set on one side. The question became 
urgent at the period when the extension of education, the 
era of economic specialization, the breaking down of social 
barriers, and the enlargement of the choice of occupation in 
accordance with democratic principles were making predic- 
tion of future career very hazardous. Then arose the 
plausible theory that the main problem of curriculum con- 
tent could be solved without facing, in any detail, the two 
troublesome questions: What are the important activities of 
life? What is to be the specialized career of the indi- 
vidual under training? Such a doctrine was so attractive 
that it was embraced with enthusiasm and defended with 
vehemence. 

This doctrine, termed the theory of mental discipline, 
must now be considered. In a somewhat extreme form it 
may be stated as follows: Certain studies, partly because of 
their content and more particularly because of their forms, 
methods and procedures lend themselves so much better 
than do other studies to the creation of certain generalized 
intellectual powers that these studies must be included in the 


386° PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


curriculum even though the reason for their introduction has 
long since disappeared and even though their content makes. 
no obvious and direct contribution! to the life of the indi- 
vidual pursuing the study. In so far as this theory is fol-. 
lowed, those responsible for curriculum construction are re- 
lieved from the necessity of giving any detailed consideration 
to social values or individual careers. At the various stages: 
of instruction, whatever may be the nature of society, what-: 
ever may be the particular position that the individual is to 
fill, there is a general path which all may profitably pursue 
with the assurance that if followed with due diligence and 
toil it will lead most directly to effectiveness in the various 
and diverse avenues of life. 

Why was this theory so attractive? Of course no school 
of educational thought has been so captivated by this 
theory as to assume that certain specific occupations such as 
medicine, law, engineering, etc., do not require specialized 
training: nor has any such school ever neglected to teach the 
language which serves as the vehicle of instruction. In fact 
at the two extremes, the early formal education of the child, 
and the late professional education of the student, there is 
little resort to any values apart from those of direct utility. 
The period which elapses after the first obvious tools of 
learning have been provided and before the period of vo- 
cational or professional education is embarked upon, is the 
time of educational doubt. Hence it is here that the theory 
of general mental discipline with its simple treatment of 
values is so acceptable. 

Not only was the theory welcomed as introducing a sim- 

1 It may here be mentioned that no subject making an obvious contribu- 
tion to effectiveness in social life is ever defended by these more remote con- 
siderations. When, however, due to changing conditions, a course of study 
ceases to make such a direct contribution, its supporters strive to establish 


it upon what they believe to be the higher and surer foundation of its dis- 
cipline value. 


THE VALUE OF A SCHOOL ACTIVITY 387 


plicity into curriculum construction but it was also sup- 
ported by the current psychological concepts. According 
to the psychological ideas of the time, “the mind” which 
controlled behavior was made up of a number of isolated 
faculties, such as memory, imagination, observation, reason- 
ing, etc. Further, it was assumed that each of these faculties 
admitted of training and was then capable of working in 
any situation and upon any material irrespective of the 
subject-matter employed in the training. In accordance 
with this concept, the function of education was to strengthen 
and discipline these faculties. In view of the importance of 
training each of these powers which, according to the theory, 
when once trained, were available generally, the problem of 
curriculum organization resolved itself at once into a search 
for those studies which in the surest way and in the short- 
est time would accomplish the accepted objectives. The 
uncritical assumption that these faculties when once trained 
would function in very diverse conditions led quite naturally 
to a willingness to disregard the social content of the curric- 
ulum. To train these powers was the major educational 
objective. In the belief that these generalized powers 
would be operating in the multitudinous situations of practi- 
cal life, it seemed idle to debate any question apart from the 
direct issue: How does a particular subject contribute to 
the all-important aim of training the faculties? Having 
convinced themselves of the indisputable merits of certain 
subjects in accomplishing this aim, the proponents of this 
doctrine assumed that the curriculum, once for all, was es- 
tablished, and that while minor alterations might ensue, its 
general contour, whatever the changes in the social order, 
was finally fixed. Devised to meet the problems raised by 
the increasing complexity of educational material, and the 
increasing specialization of occupation, and finding justifica- 
tion in the prevalent theory of mental faculties, it is no won- 


388 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


der that this theory of general discipline has had staunch ad- 
herents, and, in slightly changed forms, still has its ardent 
supporters. 

Is this theory dependent on the faculty psychology? If 
the theory of mental discipline depended upon the so-called 
faculty psychology for its validity, it could be given instant 
dismissal. All psychologists are now agreed that it is not 
legitimate to regard the mind as an aggregation of various 
independent faculties each of which can receive a separate 
training. Modern investigation shows that the mind is not 
departmental but unified in its activity. The “memory,” 
‘observation, Boer 


‘ 


” “reasoning,” “imagination” of the faculty 
psychologists are not separate powers which can be de- 
veloped in isolation, but rather different aspects of the 
working of a mechanism which always functions as a unit. 
When the individual reasons, it is not some specialized 
faculty, analogous to a large muscle, which is in operation, 
but a host of connections involving a large part of the 
nervous system. ‘The faculty theory has given place to the 
modern doctrine of a mind made up of a multitude of connec- 
tions integrated together to control behavior. But the 
abandonment of the old faculty psychology does not shatter, 
as many believe, the theory of mental discipline. Our man- 
ner of statement makes it still a tenable theory, even though 
the faculty psychology is moribund. ‘To restate the ques- 
tion, Do not some studies leave behind in the individual 
pursuing them certain intellectual powers of wide applica- 
tion which are so valuable, and so economically imparted 
through these studies that, quite apart from any direct and 
obvious relation of their content to life activities, they 
should find a place in the curriculum? 

What are these intellectual powers? If we may assume 
for a moment that we may speak of generalized intellectual 
powers — and the legitimacy of this assumption will be 


THE VALUE OF A SCHOOL ACTIVITY 389 


examined later — the nature of these powers will be made 
clear by listing some of the more significant: 

(1) Habit of Inquiry: the tendency to seek problems and 
explanations. 

(2) Habit of Concentration: the tendency to concentrate all 
the available intellectual energy on a problem. 

(3) Habit of Persistence: the tendency to work on a prob- 
lem even though its solution is difficult and brings no 
immediate reward. 

(4) Habit of Reference: the tendency to consult reliable 
authorities even though such consultation delays 
solution. 

(5) Habit of Openmindedness: the tendency to discount 
prejudice. 

(6) Habit of Integrity: the tendency to watch for, and 
avoid, illicit “Rationalization.” 

(7) Habit of Disavowal: the tendency to be willing to 
acknowledge one’s ignorance whenever and wherever 
it exists. 

(8) Habit of Demonstration: the tendency to differentiate 
desire, belief, and proof. 

(9) Habit of Analysis: the tendency to reduce an experi- 
ence to its component parts. 

(10) Habit of Generalization: the tendency to reduce a series 
of experiences to a general principle. 

(11) Habit of Application: the tendency to use general 
principles in later experience. 

(12) Habit of Self-reluance: the tendency to rely on one’s 
own judgment and mental processes. 

How can the theory of mental discipline be restated in 
modern terms? As far as it affects the practical problem 
of curriculum construction, the question now becomes: 
Are all subjects in the curriculum, if well taught, of equal 
value in forming such intellectual habits? If the answer to 


390 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


this question is “No,” the further issue arises: To what 
extent is it wise to sacrifice interest and direct relationship to 
life activities, for the purpose of establishing these habits? 
The answer to this last question depends not only upon the 
extent to which each subject builds up sound intellectual 
habits within its own domain, but also upon the extent to 
which such habits, acquired in one field of study, transfer 
over to other fields. On neither of these points is accurate 
quantitative information available. No one is in a position 
to state for the various studies what are the precise con- 
tributions of each to the growth of intellectual habits in a 
particular individual. No quantitative evidence is available 
to answer the question as to the degree of transfer that may 
be expected when the student, having built up a series of 
habits in one group of situations, is called upon to face groups 
of situations which are increasingly different from those in 
which the habits were acquired. 

Are all subjects equal in forming intellectual habits? 
With reference to the first question as to the relative values 
of different subjects in inculcating sound intellectual habits 
it is idle to say that all subjects have equal value from this 
standpoint. For purposes of exposition these intellectual 
powers will henceforth be referred to as procedures. As 
far as the school or college curriculum is concerned to-day, 
one may almost venture the statement that the correlation 
between content values and procedure values is low. In the 
languages, in mathematics, and in the exact sciences, if 
loose thinking takes place, the erring student is at once 
brought to book. If, in German, a wrong case is used, if, in 
physics, a wrong method is employed, there is scarcely need 
to bring home to the student the consciousness of his failure 
to grasp the fundamental principles; his failure is writ large. 
To produce the same inner conviction of error in the de- 
scriptive subjects such as English, history, civics, and sociol: 


THE VALUE OF A SCHOOL ACTIVITY 391 


ogy is quite impossible. In other words, loose thinking can 
be punished in certain subjects in a much more effective way 
than in others. It is a mere platitude of psychology that 
the results of desirable connections must be readily recogniz- 
able by the student; likewise when undesirable connections 
are made they must be apparent. Hence a subject which 
brings these facts inevitably to the notice of the pupil has 
very great pedagogical value. Can it be seriously main- 
tained that all subjects fulfill this fundamental law of learn- 
ing to the same degree? ‘The student who fails to solve a 
problem in geometry is cognizant of his own shortcomings — 
in such clear-cut fields there is no “shuffling.” Lax pro- 
eedure and lax thinking fail to yield the product desired, 
and nobody is more clearly aware of the fact than the student 
himself. The same student in other subjects, which are 
more speculative and therefore less exact, indulges in equally 
loose thinking, but from the very nature of the subject, he is 
not so painfully conscious of the lacune in the process. One 
idea is supported by a great name, so also, is the opposing 
idea; the student can accept either, and it is extremely 
difficult to tell whether the conclusion at which he arrives is 
the outcome of logical thinking or the result of hasty and ill- 
considered judgments. If it is contended that all subjects 
may be made to have the same inherent value in this respect, 
the methods of teaching many of the more modern subjects 
will have to be radically modified, if not revolutionized. 
How is the problem of discipline still further complicated ? 
Before we leave this question fairness demands that at- 
tention be called to an important but often neglected con- 
sideration. A school subject can only inculcate intellectual 
habits in those who wholeheartedly throw themselves into its 
activities. Many of the more difficult subjects are con- 
demned, because pupils on account of their lack of capacity 
or interest shirk the responsibilities and burdens involved, 


392 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


and fail after being “exposed” to these subjects to show 
added powers. ‘The fact that the student is unable to un- 
dergo the discipline 7s a reason for excusing him; the fact 
that the student is unwilling to undergo the discipline may 
be a reason for guiding his energy into other channels, but 
neither of these facts is a sound reason for the general con- 
demnation of the subject as a discipline. Attention may 
now be directed to the second question. 

To what extent do habits transfer? This concerns the 
extent to which a power acquired with one set of data can 
be employed with other data. Transfer takes place when 
habits, dispositions, and ideals acquired in one situation are 
used in other situations. ‘The mediating factors of transfer 
may range from simple automatic habits, illustrated by a 
child who in learning to skate uses the walking mechanism, 
to complex language habits, illustrated by a scientist who 
having been taught to correct himself in his own field of 
study by saying, “I must avoid judging by superficial ap- 
pearances and suspend my judgment until more evidence is 
available,” uses the same formula to guide his behavior in 
other fields. At the risk of offending the behaviorist we 
may say that the first transfer is the result of the functioning 
of old mechanical habits in new situations, whereas the sec- 
ond transfer results from a comprehension of the “meaning” 
of the new situation. The first type of transfer is found in 
animal and man alike, the second, to any marked degree, 
only inman. The experiments that have been made in this 
field have been, in the main, confined to narrow, in fact 
almost semi-automatic functions, and the evidence points to 
the fact that while transfer is always present it becomes in- 
creasingly and surprisingly less as the situation to which the 
old habits are applied varies from that in which they were 
acquired. 

What are the conditions of transfer at the higher levels? 


THE VALUE OF A SCHOOL ACTIVITY 393 


Little work of a prolonged or significant order has been done 
to investigate that form of transfer which is dependent on 
meaning. We know nothing quantitatively concerning the 
manner in which any of the habits of intellectual attack, such 
as careful analysis, delayed judgment, looking for similari- 
ties, intense concentration, acquired with great pains in one 
study, will function in another field. The sizing up of a new 
situation or the attempt to get at its significant relation - 
ships to old methods of response is obviously dependent on 
the intelligence, specific interest, and the factual equipment 
of the individual. The mind of a Newton or, as the b2- 
haviorists would prefer, the language mechanisms of a New- 
ton (!) are required to relate the falling of the apple to the 
movement of the stars; the intelligence of a Watt is de- 
manded to relate the mere lifting of the lid of a kettle to the 
performance of useful work; the genius of a Spencer is re- 
quired to relate a principle of organic evolution to a similar 
principle operating in the realm of social institutions. 
Obviously the relating of the one event to the other takes 
place only in a mind that is exceedingly acute. The state- 
ment that this transfer takes place only to the extent that 
the content and procedure is the same in the two fields is an 
undue simplification and leaves out of consideration the 
most important factor, namely, the active intelligence which 
makes the transfer. A content and procedure which one in- 
dividual sees to be directly applicable to a new problem, may 
not appear significant to another person. Transfer of this 
nature is never a mechanical process which can be expressed 
in terms of the objective similarity of two fields, it must 
always be regarded in the light of the generalizing capacity 
or intelligence of the individual. The point cannot be too 
vigorously maintained that whenever thinking takes place, 
transfer of training occurs. 

What is known concerning transfer? Until careful 


394 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


quantitative investigations such as are now being initiated 
have been made, to determine the extent to which in indi- 
viduals of differing mental endowment transfer of this more 
subtle type takes place, educators will be ignorant of those 
fundamental facts and principles which condition the selec- 
tion of educational curricula and methods.! Until such in- 
vestigations have been made great diversity of opinion is 
inevitable. Meanwhile we can do nothing more than in- 
terpret the limited evidence, both observational and ex- 
perimental, which is now available. Three somewhat dog- 
matic statements must suffice to summarize present knowl- 
edge. 

(1) Transfer of procedure does take place. 

(2) The extent of this transfer is so much less than a-priorz 
arguments would suggest, that in teaching transfer 
must be an ever-present conscious aim. 

(3) The amount of transfer is directly dependent on the 
level of intelligence of the individual involved, and 
upon his factual resources and degree of interest in 
the field to which transfer is to be made. 

What is the relation of interest, content, and procedure? 
Accepting this summary as the answer to our question on 
transfer, we may now raise a further point. ‘To what extent 
is it wise to sacrifice interest and direct relationship to life 
activities, in order to establish sound and vigorous intellec- 


1 It is of interest to note that the school of educators who are contending 
for a curriculum that shall center around the present life problem of the 
child is also the school that would assure us that transfer of training is al- 
most non-existent. The two positions are in direct conflict. Their first 
position compels them to assume that the procedures acquired in pupil 
problems will automatically transfer to the different problems of adult life. 
If transfer, as they claim, does not take place in any marked degree, it 
would seem that they would be driven to construct a curriculum around the 
important activities of adult life. Obviously it is impossible to maintain 
that the present problems of the pupil are the guide to instruction and, at 
the same time, assume that there is but little transfer of training. 


THE VALUE OF A SCHOOL ACTIVITY 395 


tual habits — habits which the evidence suggests have a more 
or less general application? In weighing the merits of a 
particular study, there are three considerations that must be 
borne in mind: (1) interest value; (2) content value; (3) 
procedure value. 

The values are so interrelated that convenience of thought 
alone justifies their separate discussion. By interest value 
is meant the power that the study has of awakening agreeable 
responses in the student. Interest is evidence that there is 
a voluntary identification of the self with the activity. ‘The 
degree of interest is a measure of the felt significance of the 
study to the total life experience. ‘The content of a subject 
is the factual basis. ‘The content value of a study is meas- 
ured in terms of the contribution which it makes to the 
furthering of the purposes of the individual. The procedure 
value of a study is measured in terms of the contribution 
which it makes in forming sound habits such as we have 
illustrated in a limited intellectual realm, — habits which 
may have a somewhat wide range of application. The in- 
terest factor has already received attention; we have noted 
its importance and the manner in which it should control 
the time and mode of presentation of subject-matter, but we 
have made it subsidiary to content and procedure values 
assessed from the standpoint of the degree to which the 
content and procedure lead to effectiveness in life activities. 
On this account, leaving the interest factor for the moment, 
we shall direct attention to the difference in practice which 
arises from the conflict of opinion as to the relative worth of 
the content and procedure values. 

How are content and procedure values regarded in pres- 
ent educational practice? That content acquired in one 
field is useful in other fields is apparent to the most casual 
observer. Specific content elements which do not suffer the 
usual and proper fate of most school facts,— benign obliter- 


396 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


ation — if ever used in a subject other than that in which 
they were acquired, are subject to one hundred per cent 
transfer: thus many of the facts gained in history, geography, 
civics, economics, and arithmetic are used over and over 
again in the ordinary life of the individual. In the realm of 
procedure, under which are included general mental habits, 
attitudes, and even ideals, the whole problem of transfer is 
much more subtle. ‘Those who construct the curriculum 
are facing their problem with these ideas of procedure and 
content values in mind. They are convinced that content 
transfers, but, since everything suggests that the procedure 
transference is small, they regard it as a precarious objective 
of instruction. Under such conditions, the alteration which 
has taken place in school studies is the logical outcome. 
Educators say, in the heat of the attack on the mental dis- 
cipline theory, ““We are sure of our content transference; 
let us therefore have content, subjects rather than fly to 
those studies which have procedure for their primary aim, 
concerning the transference of which we know so little.” In 
other words, the curriculum, at the present moment, is.being 
crowded with content subjects, the confessed aim of which is 
to give content values. Asa reaction against the old formal 
curriculum this may be advantageous, but it should be care- 
fully noted that whereas content values only function in 
specific circumstances, procedure may be and usually is of 
generalized application. Thus, if an individual studies one 
subject carefully and continuously and develops sound 
intellectual habits in that subject, even supposing that these 
habits function, on the average, but five per cent as effec- 
tively in other fields of experience, this five per cent transfer 
may be of much greater value than a large amount of trans- 
fer in content. ‘Though in advanced courses few further 
facts are acquired, the long period necessary for the inter- 
relations of these facts may be of incalculable value, if it re- 


THE VALUE OF A SCHOOL ACTIVITY = 397 


sults in the formation of modes of intellectual attack which 
find application in a wide range of experience. | 

It may also be pointed out from the standpoint of social 
efficiency, in which is included interest in literature, esthetic 
studies and public affairs, and even from the standpoint of 
vocational efficiency, how little content is required. The 
large majority of people, if their education had provided 
them with the habits already listed, could acquire in a very 
short time all the facts which their business proper and 
their outside interests demand; furthermore these facts 
would not be acquired under artificial pedagogical condi- 
tions, but under the more natural and stimulating condi- 
tions of life. ‘They would be acquired to meet present de- 
mands and necessities. Our educational institutions, there- 
fore, especially at the higher levels, must devote a considera- 
ble part of their time to procedure values. This could be 
done without requiring the institution to lay itself open to 
the charge of neglecting important content studies intro- 
duced to widen interests and to guide the individual in his 
social relations. 

How must the emphasis on procedure vary at different 
levels of instruction? Tobe more explicit, in the elementary 
school the direct content values may be safely stressed. 
Beyond this stage, in so far as pupils of mediocre or lower 
intelligence are under consideration, since any transfer of 
procedures at these levels is apt to be slight — direct content 
values should still be stressed. In the higher forms of edu- 
cation, especially for students of superior intelligence, pro- 
cedure values must receive explicit recognition. But it can- 
not be too greatly emphasized that these procedures must 
be derived as far as possible from studies which have an 
obvious and direct relationship to the basic social activities 
that have been discussed in Part Three. This obvious 
and direct relationship to these activities must only be 


398 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


sacrificed in so far as the evidence is convincing that certain 
studies, owing to their more rigorous methods and greater 
intellectual demands, afford a discipline which cannot be ob- © 
tained from studies of more direct social content; moreover, 
the type of discipline afforded must be such as will in the 
long run render the individual more capable in the importart 
activities of his adult life. 

How may these ideas be applied to the elective system? 
The chaotic state of our present sense of values is reflected in 
the workings of the elective system. If we consider the 
present state of educational theory, the task of those who are 
to guide the elections of students beyond the elementary 
studies is most unenviable. When the guide is on sands 
which he knows to be shifting, 1s it any wonder that he fails 
to point out the way with certainty? Where twenty years 
ago the adviser said, ‘““You must,” ten years ago he said, 
“You should,’ to-day the weak counsel is, “You may.” 
The present state of affairs is due to the fact that we have 
not yet had time to weigh what evidence we have, or to col- 
lect further evidence on the question. We are perfectly 
aware that in the assigning of the relative value to any par- 
ticular study, three considerations must be borne in mind: (1) 
interest values; (2) content values; (3) procedure values. 
It is possible that never will these three factors be fully 
harmonized. Conceivably in the process of time, a great 
educator may arise who will outline a course such that for 
large groups of individuals the procedure, interest, and con- 
tent value will bea maximum. Meanwhile, we must not de- 
celve ourselves that he has come. But admitting our igno- 
rance, we must make each student realize the three out- 
standing factors from which a subject derives its value. No 
one factor should be emphasized to the exclusion of the rest. 
It is highly undesirable to have certain educators eulogizing 
interest, others eulogizing procedure, and others eulogizing 


THE VALUE OF A SCHOOL ACTIVITY 399 


content, each with a complete disregard of the legitimate 
claims of the others. 

The elective system is too often justified by the erroneous 
theory that each subject, taught by a human teacher, is of 
equal value from the standpoint of training. If this system, 
demanding as it does great integrity on the part of the stu- 
dent, is not to work evil, certain warnings must be regarded. 
Beyond the elementary school, for those who pursue an 
academic course, a considerable portion of the work of each 
student must be directed along lines which involve con- 
tinued and correlated courses of study. Continued, for it 
is only those subjects which are studied beyond the stage 
where data are collected and through the stage where meth- 
ods are applied to the data, that anything approaching sound 
intellectual habits can be imparted. Correlated, for when a 
general method has to be acquired the soundest educational 
means is to insist that the method be used with many kinds 
of data. One is not fed, but merely puffed up by disorgan- 
ized knowledge. For the quick and sure return which con- 
tent teaching gives, we must not sacrifice the values accruing 
from an education which inculeates procedures of wide 
range of application in the important activities of life. 

What are the dangers of abstract discussion of values? 
As we close this discussion which has necessarily been some- 
what abstract, the reader must again be warned that the 
question as to the value of an activity can never be given a 
general answer. An answer only has significance with refer- 
ence to a particular individual living his life under a partic- 
ular set of conditions. Furthermore each separate activity 
can only be evaluated in so far as it is projected upon all the 
other activities which form the total experience of the indi- 
vidual. The differences in individual capacity, training, 
and expectation make mass decisions for the purpose of 
group instruction most perilous. Personality is not the re- 


400 


‘PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


sult of a series of divorced experiences, it is the outcome of 
the total life experience. Each separate activity must be 
judged by the manner in which it will integrate with other 
activities. This integration must be such that it produces 
a balanced, creative, and happy member of society —a 
member who, to the limit of his capacity, is continually 
striving to change this society for the better. 


10. 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


. What definite guidance does the commonly stated aim of education as 


*‘the harmonious development of the self”’ give in the selection of the 
activities and studies of the school? 


. How does the curriculum tend to foster a static form of society? 


How might the curriculum be changed to favor a dynamic form of 
society? 


. Contrast the effectiveness of the educational forces external to the 


school in the following: cultural vs. the illiterate home; immigrant vs. 
the native home; rich vs. the poor home; rural vs. the urban commu- 
nity; small vs. the large family. 


. What subjects in the high school and college curricula reveal the lag 


which exists between the adaptive devices of education and the de- 
mands of present-day society? What are the forces which serve to 
retain these subjects in the curriculum? 


. Show how the wide extension of educational opportunities and the 


lengthening of the time spent in school have been responsible for the 
radical alteration of the public school curriculum in both the elemen- 
tary and secondary departments. 


. Show how formal education tends to select out for elaboration only 


those present experiences of the pupil which are significant from the 
standpoint of probable future responsibilities of the student. How 
does this selective force (dependent upon the level and type of their 
culture), operate in different ways among different peoples? 


. How would the extreme proponents of the doctrine of interest in 


education criticize and attack the statement that “‘any system of ed- 
ucation that sets up interest as its guiding star is doomed to failure’’? 


. What forces operate to reduce the direct and obvious relation to im- 


portant life activities possessed by any study when first introduced 
into the formal curriculum? 


. Why was the older doctrine of general discipline styled the doctrine of 


formal discipline? What is the exact connotation of the word formal 
in this usage? 
What is the distinction between method and content? What is the 


AG 


12. 


13. 


14. 


15. 


16. 


17. 


18. 


19. 


20. 


THE VALUE OF A SCHOOL ACTIVITY 401 


fundamental philosophy back of the statement that it does not matter 
what you teach but how you teach it? 

How do you account for the fact that in the beginnings of education in 
the elementary school and at the other extreme of education in the 
professional school there is little resort to the justification of study by 
their formal values? 

Why must a consideration of relative rather than absolute values al- 
ways determine the selection and elimination of subject-matter from a 
curriculum? 

Justify the statement that all reflective thinking involves transfer of 
experience. How does all theoretical training, such as a course in 
principles of education, assume transfer? 

How does the skillful and wise teacher insure the maximum of transfer 
(to other activities) of powers gained within a particular subject? 
How does the amount of specific attention devoted to active working 
for transfer vary with groups of different levels of intelligence? 

Why has wide extension of secondary and higher education tended to 
stress content rather than procedure teaching? 

How has the attack on the theory of general discipline favored the in- 
troduction of the elective system? 

Illustrate from the curriculum of the elementary school how each of 
the four criteria governing the election of subject-matter (discussed 
in text) has made itself felt. 

From the standpoint of the four criteria for the selection of school 
studies, criticize the inclusion of each of the following in the eighth 
grade curriculum: Algebra, Domestic Science for girls, Sex Hygiene, 
Latin, American History, English Grammar, Ethics, Astronomy. 
Criticize the electives of a typical high-school or college student by 
reference to the four criteria for the selection of school activities given 
in this section. 

Enumerate the major difficulties which are involved in answering the 
question: What constitutes the value of a school study? 


PROBLEM 19 


WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF THE ELEMENTARY 
SCHOOL? 


Why is the elementary school the basic educational institution? — What 
are the activities of the present elementary school? — Is the conventional 
curriculum an anachronism? — What are the criteria for the selection of 
the curriculum? — Why must the curriculum reflect group life? — Why 
must the curriculum recognize the capacity of the child? — Why must the 

curriculum recognize the interests of the child? — Why must the school 

consider the work of other agencies? — Why must the curriculum reflect the 

basic human activities? — How can educational experience be classified? — 

What provision should be made for concrete experiences? — How has the 

elementary school unconsciously furthered non-scholastic aims? — Why . 
must the elementary school abandon its narrow intellectual emphasis? — 

How should the elementary school provide vicarious experiences? — How 

must concrete experience be made the vehicle of vicarious experience? — 

In what moulds has the social heritage been preserved? — How can this cul- 

tural experience be made available at the elementary level? — Why must 

the school keep in close sociological touch with the life of the community? — 

How should the elementary school provide for the acquisition of the tools 

of knowledge? — What major issues does the teaching of the language arts 

raise? — What is the relative importance of the several tools of knowledge? 

— What should determine standards of attainment? — Should the tools of 

knowledge be taught incidentally? — How must different levels of ability 

be ‘recognized? — What is the function of the elementary school? 


Why is the elementary school the basic educational in- 
stitution? In 1920, according to a report of the Federal 
Bureau of Education, out of a total public school enrollment 
of approximately twenty-two million children, nineteen and 
one-half million were found in the elementary schools. For 
the most part these figures are based upon the conventional 
eight-four plan of public school organization. If from this 
total are subtracted the children of the seventh and eighth 
grades, since under the junior high school reorganization 


FUNCTION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 403 


these two years fall within the limits of secondary education, 
there still remain approximately sixteen million boys and 
girls enrolled in the first six grades of the public school. 
Whether, therefore, elementary education is regarded as 
covering eight or six years, it is in this division of the school 
system that the great majority of the younger generation 
are found to whom society extends the privileges of a formal 
education. Practically all of the nation’s children pass a 
longer or shorter period in this institution. Moreover, this 
experience comes to them in those early years of life which 
are so potent in determining the direction of later growth.! 
Hence the supreme importance of the question that heads 
this discussion: “What is the function of the elementary 
school?” 

What are the activities of the present elementary school? 
A significant answer to this query is found in current cur- 
riculum practice. But this practice, since it varies much 
from place to place and is constantly changing, is difficult to 
describe. Any summary is in danger of conveying a wholly 
inadequate, if not a grossly erroneous, impression of the 
actual situation. Nevertheless, with these necessary cau- 
tions, it will be profitable to examine some of the more gen- 
eral findings of Holmes’s investigation of the curricula of 
the elementary schools in fifty American cities in 1914.? 
The facts here revealed will serve as a basis for discussion 
and will aid in defining the problem. In these cities it was 
found that for this particular year the average number of 


1 It should be noted that the work of the elementary school is based upon 
some six years of pre-school life. That this early education, provided in 
the home, is of great significance various studies are beginning to show. 
Through the training of parents and through the extension of the kinder- 
garten this pre-school age must be reached. 

2 Holmes, Henry W. ‘‘Time Distributions by Subjects and Grades in 
Representative Cities,’ The Fourteenth Yearbook of the National Socvety for 
the Study of Education, Part 1, pp. 21-27. 


404 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


hours given to each of the elementary school activities in 
all eight grades combined was as follows: 


NuMBER OF PER CENT 


Hours 
Opening exercises, including allotments in ethics, 
rey COUR MeRM e820 trad OTH BAT Nic I eH A EL NUA ye) At al ics Q42 3.38 
Reading, including phonics, literature, dramatics, 
story-telling, etc.. 1311 17.9 
Language, including composition, grammar, punc- 
tiation, Pronuncialion,cele:. ae nae ere 849 11.6 
Spellanig y MRRRGE sae Sh ese Ree ae ae ae 454 6.2 
Penmanship sis 2A COS ee ee ee 355 4.8 
Arithmetic, including algebra, geometry, business 
arithmietic.s, 5 Fr Ge si. Saye eats Tanita eae oe 981 13.4 
Geography, including physical and commercial 
geography ii yc33). 9) aon FO Hee see, a eee ATA 6.5 
Pistory Ain luUdingiciyics ae pee ee eee Oe 360 4.9 
Science, including nature-study, elementary 
science, physiology, and hygiene.............. 262 3.6 
Drawing, including picture-study, art, etc........ 394 5.4 
DV CSUR a ie eh ttle A tart bk ST Ee, He Ne ne 359 4.9 
Manual training, including industrial training, 
handwork) etc. ea liienin 4 oe eer ee eae 291 4.0 
Physical training, including athletics, gymnastics, 
folk-dancing fe 7iiaswelceia ees aa Oh ner eine ewe ge 316 4.3 
PAG AS ty ee AG Sa AC) Crotch REN RR gh Ua ks, Bs 452 6.2 
Miscellaneous, including unassigned time, study. . 229 3.0 
Totales ni eae eee Saree 7322 100.0 


Why must the school work against odds? Before the de- 
tails of this table are examined, attention may be directed 
to the proportion of the pupil’s time spent in formal educa- 
tion. In these fifty cities, in which both the school day and 
the school year are longer than in the average American 
community, the child who attends every day the school is in 
session, who progresses at the normal rate, and who com- 
pletes the work of the elementary school in the expected 
eight years, spends but seven thousand hours under the 
supervision of the educational authorities. This is but 
slightly more than one tenth of his entire time and only 


FUNCTION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 405 


about one sixth of his waking hours. Furthermore, it is 
little more than two and one half hours a day throughout 
the school life of the pupil. That the power of the school is 
limited, therefore, and that the work of the school may be 
set at naught by forces which are operating beyond its range 
of influence, is only too apparent from these figures. The 
school, in so far as it seeks to correct and elevate the common 
and accepted practices of life, works against tremendous 
odds. ‘The activities which children pursue in the purified 
and enriched educational environment constitute but a frac- 
tion of the activities in which they engage outside the school 
as they follow the call of interest or respond to social ex- 
pectation. If the school, therefore, is to function positively 
as a social institution, if it is to do more than reflect and 
enforce contemporary social practice, if its work is to be 
effective in promoting social advance, its actual authority 
must greatly exceed its nominal authority. The instruction 
of the school must be so thorough, its activities must be so 
significant to children, that its power will shape and give 
direction to much of the out-of-school life of its pupils. 
What is the position of the three R’s in the curriculum? 
In order to discover how the more progressive elementary 
schools of the country are spending their time, a more de- 
tailed examination of the facts presented in the table will be 
necessary. Over forty per cent of the total time in these 
schools is given to formal instruction in the language arts — 
reading, language, spelling, and penmanship. If to these 
subjects is added arithmetic, well over one half of the time is 
accounted for. Whatever may be the impression to the con- 
trary, the facts speak for themselves: the three R’s still 
dominate the elementary school curriculum. History and 
science receive but little attention, and music and art are 
given only perfunctory recognition. One might expect an 
educational institution whose primary purpose is to meet 


406 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


the educational needs of the masses of the people would 
sustain through its curriculum a more obvious and direct re- 
lation to their interests. Either the analysis of the basic life 
activities and needs presented in Part Three is erroneous, 
or the present-day elementary school is at fault. 

The activities of the American elementary school, if these 
curricula are at all representative, are highly literary and 
academic and are drawn from the more attenuated and 
marginal concerns of life. The dominant purpose of this 
institution is preparation for the more advanced work of a 
yet more academic nature provided in the conventional high 
school. Since the best public school practice is found in these 
cities, in all probability these tendencies are yet more charac- 
teristic of elementary education as a whole. Furthermore, 
in those first six years, which are coming to constitute the 
elementary school, formal reading, writing, and arithmetic 
occupy an especially entrenched position. 

What was the origin of the conventional curriculum? The 
explanation of this extraordinary literary emphasis is not 
difficult to discover. It may be found in the growth of cul- 
ture and in the history of the elementary school. As social 
life became more differentiated and consequently more de- 
pendent on effective means of communication and measure- 
ment, there arose the need in an increasing proportion of the 
population for the mastery of the elementary aspects of 
written language and number. Since the mastery of these 
elements of culture was difficult and since the school career of 
the individual was short and uncertain, a carefully organized 
and somewhat narrow educational program centering on 
these objectives was necessary. ‘Thus in its origin the ele- 
mentary school naturally and necessarily emphasized the 
acquisition of the tools of knowledge. 

As a basic social institution the position of the elementary 
school at this time seemed far from secure and it played but 


FUNCTION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 407 


a minor roéle in society. Its methods were unbelievably 
crude, attendance was irregular, the school day was short, 
the school year existed only in embryo, the wider educational 
objectives were not in sight, and a philosophy of popular 
education was yet to be developed. In consequence, the 
school was forced by circumstance to confine its attention 
to the most obvious educational needs. Moreover, the im- 
mediate ancestor of the elementary school throughout the 
western world was an institution designed largely by ruling 
classes to provide for the children of the masses the barest 
minimum of educational opportunities. Its primary purpose 
was to prepare the children of the humble to occupy a humble 
position in society. In accordance with the narrowness of 
its purposes the offerings in such a school were necessarily 
meager. The traditions of this early school, the vestiges of 
an outgrown civilization, cling to the elementary school of 
to-day. The school, lagging behind the demands of soci- 
ety, is slow and even reluctant to adapt itself to a changed 
conception of its function. 

Is the conventional curriculum an anachronism? Since 
the establishment of the first reading and writing schools, 
society has continued to grow more and more complex and 
the demands for education have increased part passu. Like- 
wise, with the growth of democratic ideals the practice of 
making education in its various forms follow class lines has 
fallen into disfavor. In place of the narrow conception of 
the past the elementary school is coming to be regarded as 
the school for childhood. No longer is it to be looked upon 
as a school for the abolition of illiteracy, although it will 
guarantee a literate population; no longer is it to be viewed 
as a school for the poor and unfortunate, although it will 
look after the needs of these classes. Rather it is the school 
into which the community will gather its children from the 
ages of six totwelve. Here it will, as far as time and capacity 


408 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


allow, promote their growth into sturdy, dependable, and 
efficient members of society, capable of enjoying the privi- 
leges and desirous of carrying the lighter burdens and dis- 
charging the less arduous duties which fall to the lot of every 
citizen. Whatever is required to further the adjustment of 
children to the primary conditions of life, that must the 
elementary school be prepared todo. Whether this involves 
the formation of health habits, the inculcation of wholesome 
sex and family attitudes, the gaining of a simple under- 
standing of human dependence on food, clothing, and shelter, 
the acquisition of codperative social dispositions, the de- 
velopment of worthy recreational interests, or growth of re- 
ligious insight and sympathy, this fundamental educational 
agency must not shirk the task. ‘To all children, regardless 
of the circumstances of birth, society must extend these 
privileges and enforce these responsibilities. “What the 
best and wisest parent wants for his own child,” writes 
Dewey, “that must the community want for all of its chil- 
dren. Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely; 
acted upon, it destroys our democracy.” This is the only 
conception of the elementary school which a people, favored 
by material abundance, enlightened in its political tradi- 
tions, and humane in its social ideals, can reconcile with its 
educational philosophy. 

What are the criteria for the selection of the curriculum? 
Attention may now be directed to the original question 
which in modified form may be restated as follows: What are 
the activities in which children should engage under the 
supervision of those specially trained representatives of the 
community known as teachers? A general answer to this 
question may be given in terms of a few principles. There 
are five criteria that should guide the selection of those 
activities which should constitute this foundational educa- 
tion of the citizens of a democratic society. Although four 


FUNCTION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 409 


of these principles have been discussed at some length in the 
immediately previous chapter on the value of an activity, 
each will be considered here with particular reference to its 
bearing on elementary education. 

Why must the curriculum reflect group life? In the first 
place, the activities of the elementary school should serve to 
induct the child into the life of the group of which he is an 
immature member. They should equip him to carry on and 
improve that life. In whole or in part this first criterion has 
been recognized throughout the ages in both the informal 
and formal educational agencies; it is basic to the construc- 
tion of any defensible educational program and is peculiarly 
pertinent to the organization of the life of the only educa- 
tional institution which touches directly all the members of 
society. Since the perpetuation of the group is as dependent 
on an education which recognizes this principle as any edu- 
cation whatsoever is dependent on group survival, to any 
contradictory principle even a hearing cannot be granted. 

Why must the curriculum recognize the capacity of the 
child? In the second place, the activities of the elementary 
school should be adjusted to the capacities and attainments 
of children. This is merely a recognition of the ancient 
pedagogical principle that all genuine learning must take its 
point of departure from the present position of the learner. 
To neglect this criterion in the selection and organization of 
subject-matter is educational suicide. Yet at the elemen- 
tary-school level, because adults have forgotten the ex- 
periences of their own childhood and fail to realize how long 
is the educational road which separates them from children, 
this error is often committed. Moreover, so great is the 
task of inducting the child into the life of society and so 
short is the time for the performance of this task, that the 
teacher is often reluctant to wait upon the slow processes of 
growth. 


410 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


Why must:-the curriculum recognize the interests of the 
child? In the third place, in so far as it is compatible with 
the other criteria, the activities of the elementary school 
should be drawn from the interests of children. There is a 
temptation to follow the lead of a certain school of educa- 
tional thought and make this statement without qualifica- 
tion, but such a course seems hazardous and mistaken. At 
the elementary school level particularly, since the child’s 
comprehension of his own needs is seriously defective, inter- 
est is a deceptive and dangerous guide in determining the 
content of the curriculum. As there are many things which 
children desire but should not learn, so there are others which 
they must learn whether they so desire or not. It is fortu- 
nately true, however, that in large measure the interests of 
children are mobile. On no other assumption can one ex- 
plain the wide range of activities in which children spon- 
taneously engage among peoples at various stages of culture. 
The desire for social recognition drives the child to partici- 
pation in the life of his group, whether that group is a savage 
tribe or a modern industrial community. Under skillful 
teaching, therefore, the pupil can ordinarily be stimulated to 
take interest in the learning of those things which the con- 
ditions of life require; and in the service of economy this 
should be achieved wherever possible. The interests of 
children are a condition of efficient learning, but they do not 
furnish a sufficient and trustworthy guide in the choice of 
those activities on which the perpetuation and advancement 
of society rest. Educational authorities cannot thus ab- 
dicate their high office, shirk the responsibility of basing the 
elementary school program on a thorough understanding of 
the needs of social life, and shift their burden to the shoulders 
of children. 

Why must the school consider the work of other agencies? 
In the fourth place, the elementary school should not du- 


FUNCTION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 411 


plicate the work of the informal educational agencies. There 
are many activities which serve to induct the child into the 
life of the group, which are adjusted to his capacities, and 
which appeal to his interests, which deserve no place in this 
institution. ‘The elementary school, dedicated as it is to 
the purposes of education, is not the only agency for the 
education of children. The home, the church, and the 
community all bear heavy educational burdens; and where- 
ever there is associated activity education as a social func- 
tion proceeds. It has been said that the school is life, and 
there is a profound truth contained in this statement; but 
in a certain sense the school is more than life and less than 
life. It is a specialized agency. Its great function is to 
supplement and perfect life as it is conditioned by the im- 
mediate and pressing demands of the environment. And, 
unless it absorbs the functions of all other educational agen- 
cies and takes complete charge of the child, this will remain 
the great function of the school. At present, the school is 
a sheltered place from which certain of the rigors and se- 
verities, and perhaps some of the fullness, of life are ban- 
ished. Here, without hindrance, adjustments may be made 
to the deeper, wider, more complex, and more permanent 
realities. Clearly, the leisure which nature has intended for 
children and which a wise society recognizes through its 
special educational agencies should not be consumed in aim- 
less dissipation. ‘The elementary school has a special func- 
tion to perform which can be performed only through a 
most carefully selected and organized curriculum. 

Why must the curriculum reflect the basic human activ- 
ities? In addition to these four criteria which should be 
applied to the selection of the subject-matter to be taught in 
any educational institution, there is a fifth principle which 
must be recognized in the curriculum of the elementary 
school. For the most part, the activities of this school 


412 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


should be drawn from the great common interests of men. 
However essential to the welfare of society an activity may 
be, if it implies occupational specialization, it can have no 
secure place in the elementary school. While it is as neces- 
sary to provide for the varying capacities of children as for 
the differences among older persons, and while the pupils 
should be allowed freedom for exploring their aptitudes and 
for developing their recreational interests, there is little 
room here for that differentiation of the curriculum which 
points towards special careers and which characterizes the 
higher education. The central task of the elementary school 
is to insure the acquisition of those fundamental skills, 
knowledges, appreciations, dispositions, and powers which all 
members of the group must possess (at least in some degree) 
if they are to live together in a relation of mutual benefit and 
enjoy to the maximum the fruits of collective enterprise. 
This institution should provide that common culture 
through which the group is integrated and given direction. 

How can educational experience be classified? The 
general criteria have now been considered. The way is 
cleared for the discussion of the more practical question: 
What are the specific activities which conform to these cri- 
teria and which are consequently entitled to a place in the 
elementary school? ‘To this query, since conditions change 
from age to age and from place to place, no absolute answer 
can be given. The educational needs of a people can be de- 
termined only for a given level or stage of culture. Yet in 
every modern society the elementary school should include 
within its curriculum materials representative of each of the 
six great departments of human interest: health, family, 
industry, citizenship, recreation, and religion. In the pres- 
entation of these materials economical instruction demands 
that attention be directed to three aspects of educational 
experience or three types of subject-matter. 


FUNCTION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 413 


First, there are the simple, concrete, and purposeful ex- 
periences which bring the child into direct contact with the 
immediate world of sense and which are necessary to the 
formation of the elementary habits and_ dispositions. 
Through these activities is given the intimate personal ex- 
perience upon which all further education depends. Second, 
there are those mediating activities which do not afford 
first-hand experience of the natural and social environment 
but which through symbolism and communication, oral and 
written speech, provide the wider setting, interpretation, 
and idealization of the concrete experiences gained in the 
first group of activities. Through them by means of lan- 
guage the pupil is introduced to the concrete experiences of 
others; and he thus participates vicariously in the essential 
experiences of the race. Third, there are the activities 
which are necessary for imparting those tools of knowledge 
upon which the successful pursuit of the first and second 
groups of activities is intimately dependent. It will be 
obvious that reference is here made to the language and num- 
ber arts. To the extent that incidental learning in the home, 
the community, and the school fails to give the necessary 
facility in the use of these tools, they must receive the formal 
attention of the school. 

While these three aspects of educational experience must 
be clearly recognized in the elementary school curriculum, 
care must be taken lest they be formalized. The threefold 
classification is made purely for purposes of exposition and 
not to suggest the organization of the course of study. The 
concrete activities, the vicarious experience, and the tools 
of knowledge should not be rigorously separated in the 
school. The contrary policy should be consciously pursued 
wherever possible. In sound school practice all three types 
of activities should be closely related and integrated into a 
unified educational program in which they are merely three 


414 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


different aspects of a single developing experience. With 
this caution in mind we may now proceed to consider the 
educational function to be performed by each of these 
classes of experience. 

What provision should be made for concrete experiences? 
The fundamental principle on which all education rests is 
that the modification of behavior proceeds through the 
activity of the organism as it responds to the stimuli of the 
natural and social environment. ‘The school, therefore, 
should be a center of abundant and eager activity. To be 
educative this activity must be purposeful; it must represent 
an effort on the part of the pupil to attain some legitimate 
educational end. Otherwise an acquired power may actu- 
ally fail to integrate with the rest of the child’s experience 
and to function in his life. Care must also be taken lest the 
aim of the pupil be different from that for which the school 
is working. Frequently the purposes of children are at 
variance with the purposes of formal education, although this 
disagreement is only apparent on careful analysis. For ex- 
ample, the educational aim of a game may be to teach the 
pupil how to coéperate with others, while the motivation of 
the pupil may be merely to dominate his classmates or to 
impress the teacher with his own power. In the elementary 
school, in those early years of childhood when the mental 
life of the individual is in its first stages of growth, it follows 
that, if the work of this institution is to find a place in the 
life of the child, these experiences should definitely originate 
from the concrete world of nature and society. ‘There is no 
short cut to the deeper understanding which should belong 
to the more mature years. In its simplest and most primi- 
tive form knowledge means power to do; it means familiarity 
with men and things. Activity of a social nature which has 
not been rendered meaningless by divorce from the child’s 
experience must therefore constitute the foundation for the 
development of a sound educational program. 


FUNCTION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 415 


How should the concrete experiences reflect the enlarge- 
ment of social life? In the past, before community life had 
been greatly affected by the advance of modern industry 
and the integration of society, children were incidentally 
supplied with a sufficient range of contacts of this simple 
and concrete order to furnish an adequate experiential basis 
for the formal work of the school. At a very early age they 
entered into the life of the community and engaged in its 
occupations. Since this life was neither complex nor highly 
differentiated, these experiences were ample for providing 
that simple understanding of the world which men required. 
The special educational agency therefore could assume the 
concrete knowledge necessary and confine its meager ener- 
gies to the task of teaching the three R’s. 

But whether the school of the past met the limited needs 
of its day as well or better than the school of the present is 
meeting the larger needs of modern society, is a purely ac- 
ademic question. The significant fact is that the school, if 
it is to perform its educational task, must supplement the 
simple activities incidentally provided. Definite provision 
must be made for those concrete experiences which furnish 
the only route by which the child may gain an understanding 
of the world and adjust himself to the conditions of con- 
temporary life. In the early grades, constant care being 
taken lest the service of the informal agencies be duplicated, 
ample provision must be made for these basic and direct 
contacts with the world. As Dewey and others have sug- 
gested, children should be given the opportunity of working 
with paper, cardboard, wood, leather, cloth, yarns, clay, 
sand, and metal; they should learn how to use the simpler 
tools, such as knife, needle, thread, fork, pan, stove, broom, 
hammer, saw, file, plane, and spade; they should become 
familiar with the processes of folding, cutting, pricking, 
measuring, moulding, modeling, pattern-making, heating, 


» 


416 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


and cooling; they should participate in gardening, cooking, 
sewing, printing, weaving, painting, drawing, singing, dra- 
matization, story-telling, and outdoor excursions; they 
should take part in a great variety of plays and games. All 
of these activities should proceed in an environment essen- 
tially social in its character. 

How should these concrete experiences reflect the six 
great fields of human interest? All these concrete activities 
should center about the six great fields of human interest. 
They should not be chosen at random from all the possible 
simple experiences of children, but rather from the stand- 
point of their contribution to an understanding and appreci- 
ation of the forces which condition man’s existence. A con- 
scious effort must be made in the elementary school to in- 
troduce activities which provide opportunities for direct 
participation in all great life interests that come within the 
range of childhood. In the first place, much can be done at 
this level of instruction to further health. The basic task 
of insuring the formation of health habits is peculiarly the 
task of the elementary school. At every turn there is op- 
portunity to stimulate children to form sound and to correct 
unsound health habits. This work cannot be started too 
early in the grades. In the second place, the promotion of 
the family life may be undertaken here in a simple way. 
Through codperation with the home the school may con- 
tribute to the development of those elementary social dis- 
positions necessary to a happy family life, and many of the 
activities of the home may be brought into the school either 
in work or in play. In the third place, from the economic 
life may be selected an unlimited number of valuable edu- 
cational activities. This basic human interest, neglected in 
the past, merits close attention. Although conscious devel- 
opment of commercial skills should be postponed to a later 
period, through the introduction of various forms of voca- 


FUNCTION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 417 


tional and economic activities and through experience de- 
rived from contact with the local industries valuable dis- 
positions and attitudes toward the economic life can be 
formed. In the fourth place, many activities should be in- 
troduced into the elementary school for the purpose of 
advancing the civic life. It is perhaps in developing the 
ability to live together in groups that the elementary school 
provides the richest opportunities. Everywhere in the 
school we see groups of children. They work in groups and 
they play in groups. Here is an unrivaled opportunity for 
children to acquire those habits, dispositions, and attitudes 
that are necessary for adaptation to life in the Great Society. 
Here also, as the children of all classes, races, and sects 
mingle together on terms of equality, many of our social 
problems manifest themselves in simplified form. In this 
social life of the school is a body of experience which might 
well serve to give unity and direction to the entire elemen- 
tary school program. In the fifth place, the enriching of the 
recreational life requires the introduction of a great variety 
of play activities. With a longer school day much more than 
at present can be done in developing worthy habits of recre- 
ation. In the past the recess period, although, as a rule, it 
has received but the most perfunctory attention from the 
educational authorities, has rendered a valued service. But 
in the main it has worked negatively in relieving the te- 
dium of the school rather than positively in developing 
happy recreational dispositions. The short school day, 
however, does not justify the limited attention given to 
music, dancing, companionship, and the recreational arts. 
From the first grade to the last these activities should 
find a place in the school. In the sixth place, through 
simple and concrete experiences the program of the ele- 
mentary school should foster the religious life. To what 
extent religious rites and ceremonies should be introduced 


418 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


into the public schools is a matter of dispute; but that 
the religious life of the child is greatly affected by what goes 
on in the school cannot be disregarded. ‘The underlying 
atmosphere should certainly be deeply and sincerely re- 
ligious. Only from such an environment may children be 
expected to develop those attitudes of reverence, and seren- 
ity, and gain that elevation of purpose and character which 
mark the religious nature. 

How has the elementary school unconsciously furthered 
non-scholastic aims? ‘This program of concrete social ac- 
tivities which has been outlined contains no radical principle. 
Already it exists in unorganized form or is implied in the 
practices of the school. The great need is merely to make 
purposive and effective that which circumstances have 
created. ‘The growth of the elementary school and the ex- 
tension of the period of compulsory education have conspired 
to produce a situation whose educational possibilities teach- 
ers have been slow to realize. ‘The school conventions must 
be changed. ‘To-day the emphasis is still placed on those 
traditional instructional practices which were the product 
of the narrowly circumscribed school and the limited educa- 
tional opportunities of several generations ago. It should 
not be forgotten that the elementary school is a little com- 
munity possessing some measure of stability and perma- 
nence. Into this institution are gathered all the children of 
a neighborhood, and here these children live together for a 
longer or shorter period. This situation presents the educa- 
tional opportunity. Teachers, following the conventions, 
have consciously taught these children many things — 
reading, writing, and arithmetic — but unknowingly they 
have probably taught them more. At least, the boys and 
girls in our schools have been allowed to learn much that is 
not mentioned in the formal curriculum. Proper considera- 
tion has not been given to the implications of the fact that 


FUNCTION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 419 


the child brings his entire self into the school and that what- 
ever he does effects some change in his native and acquired 
equipment of instincts, habits, and dispositions. Asa child 
learns to read he may form certain habits that either violate 
or conform to the laws of health; as he plays with his class- 
mates he may develop certain sex tendencies; as he loiters in 
the halls he may acquire certain desires for extravagant con- 
sumption; as he competes for marks in spelling he may de- 
velop certain social dispositions; as he studies arithmetic he 
may form certain standards for appreciating mural decora- 
tions; and as he converses with his teachers he may acquire 
certain religious attitudes. Ever since schools were first 
established this process has been going on in some measure; 
the educational situation to-day requires that it be given 
conscious direction. ! 

Why must the elementary school abandon its narrow in- 
tellectual emphasis? ‘The view presented here is that the 
emphasis in the elementary school should be less intellectual 
and academic than has ordinarily been supposed. This is 
not because the value of intellectual interests and intellectual 
guides is discounted, but rather because their place in life is 
not so great as the procedures of the school imply. Only in 
academic haunts is it assumed that the core of human ex- 
perience is intellectual; and only in scholastic cloisters is it 
taken for granted that society can be ruled by logic, or a 
group of men by rational motives. ‘To an individual whose 
education has developed merely the intellectual side of his 
nature the behavior of men, and consequently the behavior 
of society, which is guided by love and hate, joy and sorrow, 
would be incomprehensible. Too great emphasis on intel- 
ligence makes intelligence itself sterile. Furthermore, al- 
though man may be said to possess an intellectual urge, 
intelligence is ordinarily instrumental in the satisfaction of 
other drives. The intellectual resources of the average indi- 


420 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


vidual are not great, the forces which control him are decid- 
edly irrational, and the reflective processes are customarily 
the handmaiden of instinct, habit, and desire. All of these 
considerations make one very slow to set up purely intellec- 
tual standards for the common school. Because of the ex- 
traordinary contribution which intelligence makes to the 
solution of human problems, this institution must emphasize 
it as much as possible; but the school can emphasize intelli- 
gence only in the measure that its varying population pos- 
sess it. Knowledge, at whose shrine the school has always 
worshiped, may be mischievous, barren, or fertile depend- 
ing on the way in which it is used and the end which it serves. 
If the school is to function effectively, it must insure the 
formation of habits, dispositions, and attitudes. These can- 
not be economically formed unless activities which give them 
expression are introduced into the curriculum. Knowledge 
does not automatically eventuate in social behavior and in- 
fluence the formation of character. 

How should the elementary school provide vicarious ex- 
periences? ‘The second group of activities which must be 
given a place in the program of the elementary school will 
now be considered. ‘The child must be led to participate 
vicariously in the essential experiences of the race. ‘The 
concrete personal experiences which are gained through di- 
rect and immediate contact with the world of men and things 
are insufficient in themselves. They alone cannot provide 
the education required by the conditions of modern life. 
They must be placed in a wider setting than can be obtained 
directly through the eye, the ear, and the hand; they must 
be given a deeper interpretation than the immediate ex- 
perience contains. Habits must not be confined to their 
mere executive phase, but must be translated into ideals that 
they may find expression in conduct as new situations are 
faced. The concrete activity is only the beginning of mental 


FUNCTION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL § 421 


growth, and the peculiar function of the school is to provide 
those optimum conditions through which this growth may 
proceed. 

How must concrete experience be made the vehicle of vi- 
carious experience? ‘I'he concrete experience must be made 
the vehicle for adaptation to the wider environment; the 
mental life of the child must not be confined in the narrow 
bounds of this experience. ‘The final educational outcome 
of such an activity, if it is not consciously related to the 
larger world into which the child should grow, may be ex- 
ceedingly limited. Through analysis and synthesis, and 
through communication with others, whether by oral 
speech or by the written page, the sensory experience should 
be expanded and filled with meaning. In this way the ob- 
servation and thought of others may be brought to bear on 
the solution of the child’s own problems, and these problems 
with their solutions may be viewed in their more general as- 
pect. An illustration will make this point clear. The civic 
life must be improved through the development of citizens 
in the schools. In the attainment of this end certain civic 
habits must be formed through participation in the social 
life of the school. But there is no guarantee that these 
habits, formed within the school, will function outside. In 
fact in many instances, unless the most specific attention is 
given to the process, there will be little transfer from the one 
situation to the other. It is the function of the school to 
take these concrete situations, involving the formation of 
civic habits, and show their intimate relation to situations 
of a similar nature in the larger world. The immediate life 
of the school and the community must be systematically 
and conscientiously expanded. ‘This must be achieved lest. 
habits of action, feeling, and thought, developed with great 
care within the confines of the school, are not available for 
use in the Great Society. 


422 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


The activities included in this second group are those 
through which the child’s own immediate experiences are 
enriched by the experiences of others. In adjusting himself 
to his environment and in adding to the meaning of life the 
individual must receive the assistance of the accumulated 
wisdom of the race. As soon as the child is capable of com- 
municating with his elders, this process of vicarious learning 
begins. Of course, from the very first the infant, in the sat- 
isfaction of his wants, unknowingly receives the benefits of 
racial experience. His food may be selected in accordance 
with principles discovered by careful experimentation, his 
clothing may be fashioned in recognition of the laws of 
hygiene, the discharge of various bodily functions may be so 
ordered as to conform to some tested plan, and his whole en- 
vironment may reflect the experience of countless genera- 
tions. But in instances of this character the infant is the 
passive recipient of the benefits which flow from the social 
heritage. Through the experience of others his life is pre- 
served, his wants are satisfied, and even his habits are 
formed, but that experience remains without intellectual 
significance to him. Only when the child begins to com- 
municate with others is he enabled to utilize their experience 
in solving his problems and to enter fully into his social in- 
heritance. 

In what moulds has the social heritage been preserved? 
This social heritage, the product of ages of living, has been 
preserved through some form of language, through oral or 
written speech, through number, drawing, painting, mould- 
ing, er sculpture. It is crystallized in the material instru- 
mentalities of civilization, in tools, machines, and dwellings, 
in museums, monuments, and libraries. It is woven into 
the thoughts, feelings, and actions of men. Much of this 
experience is transmitted to the child through the simpler 
natural and social contacts gained in those concrete activ- 


FUNCTION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 423 


ities which form the basis of all mental growth. But these 
contacts do not carry on their surface the total meaning 
which is resident within them, nor do they of themselves 
provide for the full utilization of the related racial experi- 
ence. ‘These simple activities must be elaborated and un- 
folded before the pupil in order that he may see their wider 
significance and appreciate their deeper meaning. for this 
the educator will have to go to the great human records in 
which knowledge, thought, appreciation, and aspiration 
are preserved: history, geography, science, literature, 
music; art, and philosophy. From these sources come those 
supplementary experiences which provide for the direct and 
simple contact, the wider setting, interpretation, and ideal- 
ization. Through history the child may be led back to the 
beginnings of civilization, he may be a spectator of the ori- 
gins and fortunes of nations, races, and _ institutions. 
Through geography he may travel from his own neighbor- 
hood into an ever-expanding world in which he sees diverse 
men and peoples adjusting themselves to the forces of nature. 
Through science, natural and social, he may be given a 
deeper and broader understanding of the natural and social 
phenomena about him. Through literature, music, and art 
he may be drawn into a world of beauty which has been 
created by the artists of the past. ‘Through philosophy, 
gauged to the level of his understanding, he may be intro- 
duced to a consideration of the meaning and purpose of life. 

How has the form of these moulds hampered elementary 
instruction? In the light of this analysis of the educational 
necessity of affording the child opportunity to enter vicari- 
ously into the experience of the race, we cannot do better 
than examinine the effectiveness of the present school. For 
transmitting to youth the essence of the social heritage, 
this agency has always been considered important. The 
achievement of this end has always been regarded as one of 


4A, PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


the primary functions of the school. But in performing this 
function it has been handicapped by the form in which 
knowledge is preserved. Only for purposes of economical 
conservation and reference and for the promotion of mature 
study and research has the racial experience been organized 
into separate bodies of knowledge which become increas- 
ingly numerous and increasingly isolated. It is only neces- 
sary to point out that all of these branches record a common 
body of facts — the thoughts, feelings, and actions of men. 
In this sense all knowledge is history and is unified through 
its common origin. The school is too prone to assume that 
the arbitrary lines of demarcation drawn by specialists must 
be followed in the teaching of children. Such an assump- 
tion can only be fruitful of educational error and devastating 
to sound educational practice. ‘The school has consequently 
fallen far short of its opportunity in unlocking to the child 
the rich stores of human experience. Because they are 
taken out of the human setting which gives them meaning, 
history, geography, science and art remain isolated and 
abstract disciplines and assume an artificial aspect. 

How can this cultural experience be made available at the 
elementary level? If this heritage is to be made available, 
particularly at the elementary school level, it must.be re- 
moved from these logical containers to which it has been con- 
signed for preservation. It must be aired in the breezes of 
experience and brought back into the currents of life. The 
child and his activities are at the center of the educative 
process. Hence materials drawn from these various bodies 
of knowledge can be made educative only as they expand 
and make significant concrete activities selected according 
to criteria set down in Problem 18. History, geography, 
science, and art are without meaning unless they serve to 
solve some problem or to satisfy some need. In the strict 
sense one individual cannot give his experience to another, 


FUNCTION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 425 


All that a teacher can do for his pupil is to prevent participa- 
tion in certain unprofitable or harmful experiences and pro- 
vide opportunity to engage in certain valuable activities 
with a minimum of wasted effort. Insight, which is the pre- 
cipitate of living, cannot be passed directly from teacher to 
pupil. This does not mean that the heuristic method of in- 
struction should be followed and that the child should be re- 
quired to rediscover and re-create in his brief life the dis- 
coveries and products of the past. Such a proposal is ob- 
viously absurd. It does mean, however, that these vicarious 
experiences, if they are to possess any educational value, 
must develop out of those concrete experiences which must 
always serve as the basis for mental growth. 

Why must the school keep in close sociological touch with 
the life of the community? If we assume that the activities 
of the school, whether of the simpler or the more complex 
type, should center about the great human interests, there 
remains the difficult question: Since it is quite impossible to 
include them all, what particular activities should be se- 
lected? The school must not attempt what is already well 
done by some other agency. The social deficiencies of a 
people must therefore be discovered, and activities must be 
introduced into the elementary school accordingly. This 
means that in a changing society, conscious of its own needs, 
the curriculum will be undergoing continual and intelli- 
gently directed change. For the purpose of discovering its 
educational needs, the progressive community wil! conduct 
a perpetual survey of its activities. The school will thus 
become the agency through which the practices of a people 
are gradually purified and adapted to the needs of the 
world. According to this conception of elementary educa- 
tion the common school is the institution through which the 
best intelligence of society may operate to insure the most 
satisfactory adjustment to the basic conditions of life. 


426 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


How should the elementary school provide for the acquisi- 
tion of the tools of knowledge? ‘The third group of activ- 
ities remains to be considered — the language and number 
arts. Only through the mediation of these arts can the in- 
dividual participate vicariously in the experience of others. 
Upon them therefore the successful pursuit of the first two 
sets of activities is intimately dependent. With the mastery 
of these tools of knowledge, as they have been styled, the 
elementary school from the day of its origin has been largely 
concerned. ‘To-day this remains one of the primary func- 
tions of the elementary school; and so it must ever remain 
unless either civilization or human nature undergoes some 
profound change which would alter the whole basis of life. 
In the twentieth century our dependence on reading, writing, 
and arithmetic is much greater than it was in the seven- 
teenth. In fact the modern world, with its complex indus- 
trial systems and its great political organizations, would fall 
of its own weight, if it lost the support derived from the 
possession of these abilities on the part of the great mass of 
the population. If the people of the United States were to 
forget the alphabet, this nation would rapidly break up into 
small primitive groups, famine would sweep the land from 
ocean to ocean, our great cities would soon be depopulated, 
society would be forced back into some simpler and less pro- 
ductive form of industrial economy, and the residents of 
New York State would be an alien race to the natives of the 
Mississippi Valley. The great significance of these acquisi- 
tions to the intimate personal life of the individual may also 
be stressed. Consider, for example, how reading makes 
possible an unlimited enrichment of experience. He who 
can read, wherever his physical lot may be cast, need not 
live in a narrow and circumscribed world. To him may 
come the thoughts, aspirations and experiences of mankind. 
Since these tools of knowledge are not readily acquired as 


FUNCTION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 427 


incidents in the process of living, explicit attention must be 
given to their acquisition. The elementary school must 
teach the language arts. 

What major issues does the teaching of the language arts 
raise? With regard to the position these language arts 
should occupy in the elementary school, there are three 
questions which merit consideration. First, what is the 
relative importance of the different tools of knowledge? 
Second, what standard of attainment should be set up for 
each as the goal towards which to strive? Third, to what 
extent should these arts be taught as separate and distinct 
subjects in the formal curriculum? These questions will 
now be considered in order. 

What is the relative importance of the several tools of 
knowledge? Of all the language arts, oral speech is decid- 
edly the most important in the life of the ordinary individual. 
It is the-primary art out of which in the development of 
both the race and the individual all the rest are evolved. 
By means of this instrument man converses with his fellows 
aud through its sub-vocal use he engages in the processes of 
reflection. But, in accordance with conventional school 
practice, many would maintain that it merits little attention 
in the school. ‘They would argue that the normal child, by 
constantly participating in oral speech from earliest infancy 
acquires a high degree of proficiency during the pre-school 
age. While there is a measure of truth in this contention, 
we would take the uneqtivocal position that one of the 
major tasks of the elementary school is the development and 
refinement of oral speech. Nurtured, as he is, in a restricted 
and limited environment the ordinary public school pupil, 
particularly the child of immigrant parentage, brings to the 
formal agency an oral speech full of imperfections. At the 
best his practice abounds in vulgarities and grossness and is 
susceptible of much improvement. Especially should at- 


428 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


tention be directed to imparting facility in the uses of this 
art which further companionship. 

Next to oral speech in importance stands reading. Con- 
cerning the general importance of this art sufficient com- 
ment has already been made. Ability to read differs from 
oral speech in that, only in the rarest cases, can it be ac- 
quired without the help of the school or some form of definite 
instruction. Furthermore, there are two forms of reading, 
oral and silent, which must be clearly distinguished. In 
modern life, with its practically unlimited demands on the 
reading abilities, the latter is by far the more important. 
In the school, therefore, much attention must be given to 
the cultivation of silent reading; and it must not be taught 
as a handmaiden or a companion of the oral form. Psy- 
chologically it is a different process, and the development of 
improper reading habits is the almost certain consequence of 
teaching silent reading through the oral approach. 

The writing of the vernacular is probably the third of the 
language arts to be stressed in the elementary school. This 
complex ability presents the threefold aspect of penmanship, 
spelling, and composition. Composition, the essential part 
of the process, is dependent on the more mechanical abilities 
of penmanship and spelling. To all these processes atten- 
tion must be given, but the common emphasis in the ele- 
mentary school should be reversed. Handwriting and 
orthography should be definitely subordinated to expression. 

Finally, there is the problem of arithmetic, the problem of 
acquiring the ability to manipulate number and quantitative 
concepts. This ability is clearly required by any one who 
would live successfully in the industrial society of to-day 
with its complicated system of exchange and its constant 
demands for a knowledge of numerical relations. It is 
doubtful, however, if there is any clear justification for the 
serious introduction of arithmetic into the early grades as is 


FUNCTION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 429 


customary at present. The extent to which this ability en- 
riches the experience of the child and the extent to which it 
fosters social codperation, are extremely limited. This raises 
an important educational question, Would it not be wise 
to postpone the teaching of all but the most elementary 
arithmetic until the later grades or, in other words, until 
children have reached that stage of maturity at which 
number concepts can be adequately grasped and more 
rapidly taught. Teaching arithmetic in the early grades is 
an anachronism. It is a survival from an age when the 
school career of the child was much shorter and more pre- 
carious than it is to-day. 

In summary the following propositions may be set down. 
The several tools of knowledge should not receive equal 
emphasis in the elementary school; the literary arts are of 
incomparably greater importance than arithmetic; the 
former, because of their great value in enlarging and en- 
riching the world of the child, should be introduced very 
early into the curriculum; the manipulation of number 
concepts, on the other hand, should probably receive little 
emphasis in the lower grades; and especially oral speech 
and silent reading, the two basic instruments of social 
intercourse and thought, should be effectively and fully 
taught. 

What should determine standards of attainment? The 
second question regarding the position of the language arts 
in the elementary school must now be considered. What 
standards of attainment should be set up as the goals to: 
wards which to strive? In the past there has been a dis- 
tinct tendency for artless perfectionism to dominate the 
thought and practice of education. It has been assumed, 
for instance, that in oral reading every child should become 
a Daniel Webster, that in penmanship he should acquire a 
perfect and stereotyped hand, that in spelling he should 


430 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


spell all but the most highly technical words of the English 
language, that in written composition he should rival the 
masters of style, and that in arithmetic he should lay the 
foundations of a mathematical career. Such academic 
phantasy is disastrous to clear thinking on educational 
values. Standards of achievement must not be derived 
from the pious aspirations of pedagogues, but must rather 
be evolved from a close study of the conditions and de- 
mands of life considered in the light of the measured cap- 
abilities of children. In modern society the ordinary in- 
dividual seldom indulges in oral reading, has little need for 
writing a perfect hand, is called upon to spell only the words 
used in his writing, is unqualified by both nature and cir- 
cumstance for the creation of literature, and requires but 
the simple arithmetical processes in the customary transac- 
tions of life. It should be explicitly understood, however, 
that standards should not uncritically reflect present social 
practice. This practice is full of error and folly. Rather 
a wholly different principle must serve. Standards must be 
derived from a study of great common needs. In some 
measure present practice is the product of insufficient, un- 
sound, and even bad education; the function of good educa- 
tion is not to perpetuate, but rather to modify and improve 
this practice. Defensible standards must be formulated 
in the light of the possibilities resident in human nature, 
the prevailing conditions of life, and an acceptable and 
critical social and moral philosophy. 

Should the tools of knowledge be taught incidentally? 
A final question concerning the teaching of the language arts 
remains to be examined. ‘To what extent should the lan- 
guage arts be taught as separate and distinct subjects in the 
formal curriculum? From our method of presentation the 
reader has perhaps been led to the conclusion that reading, 
writing, and arithmetic should be formally taught as sep- 


FUNCTION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 431 


arate and distinct subjects. Such a conclusion is without 
foundation. The different tools of knowledge have been 
given this separate treatment merely for the purpose of 
making explicit our position with reference to their impor- 
tance. At this point we cannot discuss in any detail the 
methods which should be employed in securing the desired 
degree of mastery. Weare rather insisting that these levels 
be attained. A word concerning method, however, needs to 
be said in order to clarify the issue which has been raised. 
It is our contention that, wherever possible, the interests of 
economy will be served by relating reading, writing, spelling, 
speaking, and figuring quite definitely to the more meaning- 
ful social experiences. Undoubtedly much time and energy 
has been wasted in the schools of the past by pursuing what 
superficially appears to be the economical course. By de- 
manding of the child a slavish attention to the mastery of 
forms and mechanisms from which all significant content 
and purpose have been abstracted, the schoolmaster has un- 
wittingly lowered the motivation of the learning process. 
Command over these tools is to be acquired economically 
only by employing them in an experience which is develop- 
ing and which is worthwhile in itself. This does not mean 
that reading, for example, from the very beginning should be 
made purely incidental to participation in other activities. 
Certain studies of the rate of learning prove the contrary. 
The processes involved are far too complex to permit of such 
an easy solution. Reading is a very difficult art to acquire, 
and can only be developed efficiently under the most careful 
supervision of a trained teacher. A child might learn to read 
without such guidance, but the extended investigations of 
Judd and others show that in all probability he would form 
some very bad habits. The question therefore reduces it- 
self to this: To what extent is it necessary to introduce into 
the elementary school under the conditions of artificial 


432 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


motivation direct drill on language and number forms? To 
this question, since much depends on the intelligence of the 
individual child, no single and absolute answer can be given. 
The indirect learning will be almost sufficient for the gifted, 
while a considerable amount of direct drill will necessarily 
have to be provided for the less fortunately endowed. In 
each case, with a view to securing the largest possible ed- 
ucational result with the smallest expenditure of energy, 
there will have to be a careful analysis of practice and a 
delicate weighing of values. 

How must different levels of ability be recognized? Ac- 
cording to the foregoing discussion, in the curriculum of the 
elementary school provision should be made for those con- 
crete experiences upon which all mental growth ultimately 
rests, for those more complex activities through which the 
child enters vicariously into the essential experiences of the 
race, and for those more formal activities by means of which 
ordinary facility in the use of the tools of knowledge is ac- 
quired. Before leaving this discussion we must consider 
the basic question regarding the organization of this pro- 
gram for different levels of ability. ‘The elementary school 
is frankly non-selective in its character. Within its enroll- 
ment may be found practically the entire gamut of intel- 
ligence and the whole range of capacity. Into the first 
grade of the school come the bright, the average, and the 
stupid, as well as the extremes of genius and feeble-minded- 
ness. Such diverse individuals cannot all engage in the same 
activities on equal terms. ‘The ideal procedure, according 
to some, would be to return to individual instruction; but 
this, at least for the present, is extremely difficult. In many 
types of activities, because of certain social values that flow 
from group instruction, it would be positively undesir- 
able. The need for economy requires that children be 
taughi in groups, and under these conditions sound instruc- 


FUNCTION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 433 


tion in some subjects can be given only in relatively homo- 
geneous classes. 

In response to the demands growing out of this situation 
the schools have been very roughly graded according to 
chronological age and different attainment levels. So 
crude has been this classification, however, that children of 
widely differing abilities, and even of very dissimilar ages 
and attainments, have been brought together and taught in 
a single group. Only by varying the rate of promotion has 
any formal provision been made for children of varying 
capacities. While in the smaller schools, in so far as individ- 
ual instruction cannot be provided, differences of capacity 
will always have to be taken care of by thus advancing the 
brighter pupils to higher chronological age levels and holding 
the slower children in the lower levels, in the larger schools a 
different procedure should be followed. Here, variation in 
the rate of promotion should be strongly tempered by more 
homogeneous classification at each age. Under such a plan, 
age being defined as a composite of the stages reached in 
anatomical, physiological, psychological, and social growth, 
children would be admitted to the elementary school at 
approximately six years. At each age level, for the purpose 
of securing a relatively homogeneous grouping with respect 
to the particular trait or set of traits required in the learning 
processes involved, a careful classification would be effected. 
For the most part, a child would be promoted regularly 
from year to year and be kept with children of about his own 
age. The activities in which children would engage at each 
level would be adjusted to their abilities. ‘There would be a 
minimum curriculum which all would be expected to master. 
Those in the slowest group would cover this minimum only. 
For each of the other groups, according to the endowments 
of their members, the program would be enriched. The 


1 By enrichment is not meant the inclusion of a larger amount of the same 


434 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


current meaning of grade would be destroyed. But, if the 
educational needs of children were more effectively met, this 
would be no serious loss. . In many of the activities of the 
curriculum, in those of a purely social or recreational 
nature, in living the common life of the school, where the pos- 
session of intellectual gifts is not the decisive factor, children 
of different levels should be brought into association. ‘Thus, 
the development of unwholesome social attitudes would be 
prevented; and children would come to recognize differences 
in mental endowment in the same objective way that they 
note differences in physical traits. 

What is the function of the elementary school? In con- 
clusion and in summary it may be said that an ideal elemen- 
tary school would bring together for educational purposes, 
regardless of social status and native endowment, all the 
children of the community. Under the supervision of men 
and women carefully trained for their work these immature 
members would be inducted into the life of modern society. 
Through participation in activities which would insure the 
acquisition of those basic skills, habits, attitudes, disposi- 
tions, ideals, and powers required by all members of the 
group this central purpose of the elementary school would 
be achieved. ‘The core of these activities, and the force 
which would give them reality, would be the concrete life of 
the school and of the community. ‘The life of the former, 
as much as the life of the latter, would reflect the great 
fields of human interest. The enlargement and interpreta- 


grade of material. To advocate such a practice would be to commit an 
educational crime. The brighter children must be provided with those ex- 
periences which develop their powers. This might well mean the introduc- 
tion into their program of such special subjects as foreign language, ad- 
vanced mathematics, or any branch of learning which requires long and 
rigorous study. On the higher levels this must be permitted, even though 
such practice may appear to violate the central purpose of the elementary 
school. 


FUNCTION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 435 


tion of these concrete activities would make necessary the 
elementary mastery of the language and number arts, and 
through them the reading, imaginative study, and apprecia- 
tion of those human experiences which have found expres- 
sion in history, geography, social science, natural science, 
literature, art, and philosophy. In the early years of the 
school the activities would be of a simple and direct char- 
acter, while in the later years the emphasis would be increas- 
ingly on the more complex and ideational experiences. At 
first, there would have to be relatively complete dependence 
on the immediate environment; but it would be the purpose 
of education to lead the child step by step to the larger phys- 
ical and social world and to the wider and deeper realities of 
life. Not only would age levels be recognized, but also 
ability levels at each age. In this institution children 
would remain for approximately six years, or until they 
reached the period of early adolescence. Throughout the 
elementary school the great emphasis would be placed on 
snaking those fundamental adjustments to life which are 
secured through habits, attitudes, and ideals. In a simple 
way, and in the measure possible, the elementary school 
would seek to further health, promote the family life, order 
and humanize the economic life, advance the civic life, en- 
rich the recreational life, and foster the religious life. 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


1. How does the almost complete absence of competing agencies in 
America make the elementary school a powerful force for social in- 
tegration and for the propagation of the democratic ideal? 

g. Why is the conventional elementary school in America an eight-year 
school? What are the tendencies operating to reduce the elementary 
course to six years? 

3. How may the changing conception of the function of elementary 
education be expected to alter the emphasis on the three R’s in the 
curriculum? 

4, How has the true purpose of elementary education been subordinated 
to the demands of preparation for secondary education? 


436 


10. 


11. 


12. 


13. 


14. 


PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


. How does the extreme heterogeneity (social, cultural, and racial) of 


the elementary school population make necessary the duplication of 
work which for some pupils is being performed effectively by other 
agencies? Is there an argument here for private education as well as 
increasing differentiation within the public elementary school? 


. From the standpoint of equipping the individual to perform the com- 


mon and unspecialized activities of life, criticize the present practices in 
teaching: (a) arithmetic, (b) formal English grammar, (c) oral reading, 
(d) spelling, (e) silent reading, (f) physiology, (g) place geography. 


. How would you criticize the conventional curriculum of the elementary 


school from the standpoint of its contribution to effective participa- 
tion in, and adequate understanding of, the six basic activities dis- 
cussed in Part Three? 


. What can be said for and against the attractive educational doctrine 


that nothing should be taught a child until such time as he feels a 
distinct need for it? 


. Why is there grave danger that formal education on the elementary 


school level will, as the name signifies, be formal and unmeaningful? 
How has the advance of our scientific knowledge of the processes in- 
volved in reading revealed the danger attending undirected “ picking 
up”’ of reading outside the school? How does this factor apply to 
other fields of learning? 

What are the reasons for the change in emphasis with respect to oral 
and silent reading? 

Show how the undue influence of the intellectual ideal has been 
especially harmful to the true aims of a universal elementary scheme 
of education. 

What educational objections may be raised to classification by in- 
telligence levels? Can these objections be met? 

In what respects should the content of instruction employed in the 
elementary schools of a democratic society differ from that used in the 
schools of an autocracy? 


PROBLEM 20 


WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF THE SECONDARY 
SCHOOL? 


Why is the public high school peculiarly a product of American life? — 
Why does the secondary school occupy a key position in the education of a 
people? — Why is the American secondary school at the crossroads? — 
What two sets of activities constitute the program of the high school? — 
What is the official program? — What is the old secondary school tradition? 
— How has secondary education been socially and intellectually selective? 
— How is the high school abandoning the selective principle? — How may 
universal secondary education be justified? — How does the extension of 
secondary education involve the abandoning of traditional notions? — 
What are the evils of college domination? — How should the conflict be- 
tween secondary school and college be resolved? — What forces have cre- 
ated the junior high school? — What should be the criteria for the selection 
of the curriculum of the enlarged secondary school? — What can the sec- 
ondary school expect of elementary education? — What must be the basic 
function of the secondary school? — What are the universal needs in the 
field of health? — What are the universal needs in the field of family life? — 
What are the universal needs in the field of industry? — What are the uni- 
versal needs in the field of citizenship? — What are the universal needs in 
the field of recreation? — What are the universal needs in the field of reli- 
gion? — What types of experience will satisfy these six basic needs? — 
What concrete experiences are necessary at the secondary level? — What 
provision must be made at the secondary level for vicarious participation in 
the racial experience? — What attention should be given to the tools of 
knowledge at the secondary Jevel? What provision must be made for 
differences in interest and vocational expectation ? — What provision must 
be made for differences in capacity? — What is the place of the languages 
and the abstract sciences? — Why must these subjects be restricted to a few 
students ?— Why must the secondary school foster adult education ? — 
What is the function of the secondary school in American society ? 


Why is the public high school peculiarly a product of Amer- 
ican life? In the public high school,! more than in any other 


1 Owing to the fact that the American public-school system is under- 
going a process of radical reorganization, the meaning of secondary educa- 
tion is somewhat ambiguous. Under the conventional plan of organization 


438 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


educational institution, has the genius of the American peo- 
ple expressed itself. This school is peculiarly the offspring 
of our democratic conception of society. Particularly during 
the last generation have the American people exhibited an 
enthusiasm for this social agency which causes it to occupy a 
unique place in the history of our institutions. The lower 
and higher divisions of our educational system have been 
greatly influenced by the practices and experiences of other 
peoples. The kindergarten, the elementary school, the 
college, the university, and the professional school have 
been developed in other countries; but the public high school, 
with its revolutionary implications and its central position 
in the system, is indigenous to the United States. No claim 
is made that the American secondary school has no histor- 
ical connection with those older forms of secondary educa- 
tion which are the heritage of the entire western world. 
But the contention may fairly be made that this institution, 
though still embodying many practices and conventions 
borrowed from older civilizations, has been erected on the 
foundations of a radically different educational and social 
philosophy. 

Why does the secondary school occupy a key position in 
the education of a people? As opposed to the somewhat 
traditional course pursued in the development of elementary 
and higher education, American society has followed a 
relatively uncharted course in the field of secondary educa- 
the secondary school is a four-year school based on an eight-year elementary 
school, while under the new plan secondary education embraces the upper 
six years of a twelve-year system, or possibly the upper eight years of a 
fourteen-year system. ‘These six or eight years are divided into a junior 
and senior division of three or four years each. With this reorganization, 
though its precise form is still uncertain, the writers are insympathy. They 
consequently think of secondary education as covering at least a six-year 
period which roughly coincides with the period of adolescence. But in this 


discussion, when reference is made to conventional practice, the term 
secondary education will be used. 


FUNCTION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL = 439 


tion. The reasons for this fact will now be considered. 
The secondary school, more than any other educational in- 
stitution, reflects the controlling ideals and purposes of the 
social order. Radically different societies must have radi- 
cally different conceptions of the scope and nature of sec- 
ondary education. To discover the deeper social philosophy 
of a people, the question may well be asked: Who is admitted 
to the secondary schools? ‘The response to this question 
will be illuminating. The elementary school of a democratic 
people may resemble quite closely the elementary school of 
an autocratically governed state, but the secondary school 
in a democratic society must be essentially different in form 
as well asin spirit. ‘Through this institution the privileges of 
a higher education are extended to the masses, and through 
this agency American society has registered its attitude 
towards such fundamental matters of social concern as the 
equalization of opportunity, the inheritance of privilege, 
the stability of classes, and the sources of leadership. Since 
the secondary school occupies such a strategic position in the 
social order and since American secondary education has 
evolved as yet no adequate or consistent philosophy, the 
problem which heads this discussion is of immense social 
import and of extreme difficulty. 

Why is the American secondary school at the crossroads? 
In considering the function of the secondary school, we could 
follow the course pursued in the discussion of elementary 
education and attempt a somewhat detailed survey of cur- 
rent practice in curriculum construction. But this mode of 
approach, since courses of study in the secondary school 
have but little uniformity, would not be especially helpful. 
The curriculum of this institution is in a state of rapid 
change. It reflects two.traditions, the one representing the 
past and occupying an entrenched position, the other rep- 
resenting the future and engaged in marshaling its forces, 


440 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


“The old is out of date; 
The new is not yet born.” 

The one is definite and embodied in a program, the other is 
indefinite and without settled expression. ‘The new tra- 
dition is marked by conflicts and inconsistencies, and is 
driven by contradictory impulses. In the field of secondary 
education our age is an age of uncertainty and an age of ex- 
perimentation. From this uncertainty and experimentation 
will come new purposes and new programs. ‘The forces at 
work in modern society have torn the secondary school 
loose from those moorings to which it has been securely 
anchored for centuries. On account of this insecurity new 
subjects or new principles of curriculum organization are 
often eagerly and uncritically welcomed. In certain quar- 
ters any suggestion that holds out promise of educational 
stability receives a hearty welcome and gains instant sup- 
port. But in the absence of an accepted philosophy each 
new proposal has its day, ofttimes a very short day, and 
passes on to be resurrected and rechristened by a later gen- 
eration of teachers. With remarkable swiftness, in that 
margin of the curriculum where experimentation is per- 
mitted, subject follows subject into oblivion. Because of 
this condition any detailed description of the activities of 
the present secondary school is impossible. But that we 
may be able to see more clearly the nature of this conflict 
between the old and the new traditions and to estimate the 
strength of the forces ranged on either side, the general 
nature of the curriculum will receive examination. This 
will enable us to grasp that modern conception of secondary 
education which is emerging out of the welter of confused 
and chaotic practices of the present day. 

What two sets of activities constitute the program of the 
high school? In the typical high school there are two sets of 
activities which engage the attention and energy of the 


FUNCTION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 441 


students. There is the official program which both teacher 
and parent customarily regard as including all the important 
work of the school. Records of the performance of each 
student in these official activities are carefully preserved, 
are reported to the parents, and are made the subject of 
solemn discussion at the meetings of the members of the 
school staff. On the other hand, there are the activities 
which may be described as unofficial. They have been 
created very largely by the students themselves and, in 
spite of the apathy and even hostility of the authorities, 
they have come to occupy a secure position in the high 
school. Into these activities the students throw themselves 
with an enthusiasm that is in marked contrast with their 
response to the official curriculum. With eagerness they 
follow the course of these activities, with a solemnity paral- 
leling that of the faculty meeting they discuss their partici- 
pation in them, and in their annuals and other publications 
they carefully preserve a record of individual and group 
performance. ‘This unofficial curriculum of athletics, 
societies, clubs, parties, and dances has been developed by 
the student as a compensation for submission to the re- 
quirements of the more formal and abstract curriculum of 
a highly selective and academic education. 

What is the official program? In the official program 
the great emphasis is placed on language and mathematics. 
English, Latin, French, German, Spanish, algebra, and 
geometry constitute the backbone of this curriculum. This 
emphasis represents the older tradition to which reference 
was made in an earlier paragraph. In addition, a year or 
two of abstract science and several years of political and 
military history will usually be found in the high school. 
In the science, attention is focussed on an academic content 
rather than on human problems; and in the history,emphasis 
is placed on the ancient and medieval rather than on the 


442 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


modern world. ‘These more recent subjects have for the 
most part been forced to capitulate to the earlier tradition 
and become in both content and procedure as much like the 
older “‘respectable”’ subjects as possible. In the small high 
school, and most American high schools are not large, little 
else will be offered in the official curriculum. After provi- 
sion has been made for the inclusion of these accepted sub- 
jects, the narrow margin of time that remains ts only suffi- 
cient to give a little play to the idiosyncrasies of the principal 
or some other dominating personality in the school or the 
community. If the institution is a large one, the situation 
is quite different. ‘The offerings are likely to be very wide 
indeed. Often they will include a range of subject-matter 
that would have been regarded a generation or two ago as 
altogether too ambitious for the ordinary college. These 
subjects are organized rather loosely into curricula which 
presumably are bound together by some unifying principle. 
A generation ago the tendency existed to take some line of 
academic interest as this binding principle; to-day the ten- 
dency is to exalt a special vocational interest. Since in 
each curriculum or individual course of study only a portion 
of the program is definitely prescribed, the student is 
given a measure of freedom in the choice of subjects. In 
some cases the amount of the prescription is so small that 
’ almost complete freedom is given the student. In general, 
it is not too much to say that the boy or girl in the*public 
high school either pursues the narrow curriculum of the past 
or the loose and shifting curriculum of the present. In 
either case he drifts through the high school without securing 
the unified, integrated, and serviceable educational experi- 
ence for which we have pleaded in Part Three. 

1 Examples of the first type are the Latin, English, and Latin-Scientifie 
curricula which are still found in some high schools; while examples of the 


second type are the college preparatory, normal, commercial, agricultural, 
and industrial arts curricula which are common in the high school of to-day. 


FUNCTION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 443 


What is the old secondary school tradition? At this 
point the old tradition of secondary education from which 
the high school is endeavoring to break away may well be 
scrutinized. In spite of the recent changes in the curric- 
ulum, the activities of the high school remain predominantly 
literary and mathematical. Whence came this curriculum? 
Why does it remain with us? The answer is simple. In its 
origin the function of the secondary school of Western 
Europe was to prepare for the higher education, and this 
required first a literary, and later, a literary and mathe- 
matical training. ‘The reasons for this emphasis cannot be 
elaborated; it must suffice to point out that the Latin gram- 
mar school, the school which the American colonists brought 
from Europe, originated at a time when Latin was not only 
the language of learning and culture, but also the official 
language of the church and the state. Against this narrow 
curriculum and the domination of the college the American 
people revolted in the second half of the eighteenth century 
by creating the private academy which greatly widened the 
scope of secondary education. But this institution, originat- 
ing as a protest against the old tradition, rapidly fell under 
its spell and survives to-day as a college preparatory institu- 
tion of the most conservative. type. 

Toward the close of the first quarter of the nineteenth 
century the popular demand for a broader conception of 
secondary education again made itself felt. There resulted 
the public high school which in its inception set its face 
against the college preparatory tradition. Again the story 
is repeated. As the high school was established in com- 
munities in which it was the sole secondary school, the in- 
fluence of the college gradually asserted itself. It was only 
natural that the more powerful classes in such communities, 
the classes who support the higher education, should insist 
that their children be prepared for college. Since the college, 


444. PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


in its infinite wisdom, has never been averse to making very 
definite prescriptions covering the previous education of 
those seeking entrance, the curriculum of the high school 
has virtually been dictated by the college. Particularly has 
this been true of the small school in which the limited teaching 
staff and the slender financial resources necessitate a narrow 
program. Whereas in the larger high school the new sub- 
ject can simply be added to the old, in the smaller school, if 
the new is introduced, the old is perforce abandoned. Other 
forces, however, have been influential in perpetuating the 
tradition of language and mathematics. High-school 
teachers have been trained to teach such a curriculum, and 
its administration, since classes may be large and no elabo- 
rate equipment is required, can be made relatively inexpen- 
sive. For a certain highly selected type of mind it provides 
subject-matter which bears some relation to future needs. 
But even for the intellectually gifted it 1s a narrow curricu- 
lum; while for the masses of students now enrolled in the 
secondary school it can furnish but the travesty of an edu- 
cation — a travesty because it fails to make any obvious 
and direct contribution to the more intelligent and appreci- 
ative participation in the enterprise of improving the condi- 
tions under which man seeks to satisfy his physical, family, 
economic, civic, recreational, and religious needs. ‘This 
somewhat severe arraignment of the older tradition brings 
us to a consideration of the changing conception of secondary 
education in the United States. 

How has secondary education been socially and intellec- 
tually selective? Throughout the history of western Europe 
secondary education has been socially and intellectually 
selective in its character. Ordinarily, where education has 
reached an advanced stage of development, there has ap- 
peared in some form a dual system of schools. The two 
divisions of the system provide separate and parallel educa- 


FUNCTION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL = 445 


tional facilities for two groups of children of corresponding 
ages. The one division, from which the elementary school 
has developed, was designed to take care of the limited ed- 
ucational needs of the masses and provided but the barest 
rudiments of an education; and the other, composed of the 
secondary and the higher schools, was intended to provide 
an education for the classes. ‘The object of the latter was 
to prepare the favored children of the aristocracy for those 
positions of leisure and leadership which they were destined 
to occupy. Between the two halves of this system there 
was no articulation. Hence, the opportunities of an ad- 
vanced education were forever denied those whose educa- 
tional careers were begun in the school of the common 
people. But secondary education has not only been so- 
cially selective, it has been psychologically selective as well. 
Its standards have been set weil above the capacities of the 
average, and those who could not meet the requirements 
have been eliminated. To those who are fortunate both 
by nature and by nurture, the secondary school has been 
dedicated in the past. 

Contrary to the common belief the public high school, as 
exact studies have revealed, is still decidedly selective. 
But both theory and practice are carrying us away from 
the selective principle. Early in the development of our 
educational institutions the dual system of education with 
its two distinct parallel divisions was abandoned. In its 
place, through the organization of a secondary school that 
articulated with the elementary school at one end and with 
the college at the other, a single continuous system was es- 
tablished. This revolutionary change will, in the history of 
intellectual and social emancipation, be regarded as one of 
the greatest, if not the greatest, cultural achievement of the 
American people. The significance of this change is, as yet, 
hardly realized, and is only just beginning to bear fruit. 


446 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


The expansion of secondary education which was implicit in 
this departure from tradition was somewhat slow in coming. 
In fact, it is only within our own generation that the in- 
creasingly heterogeneous population of the high school has 
forced on the attention of educators the complete inade- 
quacy and unsuitability of the old academic practices and 
conventions. 

How is the high school abandoning the selective principle? 
During the last thirty years the four-year public high school 
has been developing at a rate without precedent in the his- 
tory of educational institutions. Expenditures on secondary 
education have increased many fold since 1890; the number 
of high schools has grown from about twenty-five hundred 
to more than fifteen thousand; the high-school building has 
developed into the most imposing edifice found in many a 
community; the number of teachers has increased approxi- 
mately nine hundred per cent; and in the more populous 
centers the curriculum has been greatly enlarged. Con- 
sidered in isolation no one of these changes is especially im- 
portant, but in combination they are extremely significant. 
They are symptomatic of that fundamental transformation 
which is radically altering the character of the high-school 
population. So extensive is this change in the student body 
that secondary education is being rapidly shifted from its 
old base to an essentially new foundation. In 1890 there 
were in the public high schools of the nation but two 
hundred thousand boys and girls; to-day there are well over 
two million. That this registration, however impressive it 
may be, does not represent universal secondary education, 
is apparent: there are between eight and nine million children 
of high-school age in the nation. For the most part the 
twenty-five per cent enrolled in this institution are selected 
from the fortunate classes and from those children possess: 
ing superior mental and moral endowments. ‘These are the 


FUNCTION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL = 447 


current facts, but in principle and in reality America is 
moving swiftly away from the conception of a selective 
secondary education toward the conception of a universal 
secondary education which without regard to either social 
status or native talent enrolls the adolescent. The ramparts 
erected by an aristocratic order for the defense of hereditary 
privilege have been forever swept away and the wider ex- 
tension of educational opportunities at this level merely 
awaits a program. Already in some of the more progressive 
communities universal secondary education is all but real- 
ized, and in certain of the states legislation is breaking with 
the tradition of compulsory education for the elementary 
period only and is pointing towards the extension of some 
measure of secondary education to all. 

How may universal secondary education be justified? 
This new conception which regards secondary education as 
the education for adolescence, in the same universal manner 
that elementary education is the education for childhood, 
requires some elaboration and defense. It means a definite 
move in the direction of the realization of one of the most 
commonly accepted American ideals, namely, the equaliza- 
tion of those opportunities which in the past have been so 
dependent on family circumstance. ‘This is the defense of- 
fered by him who thinks in terms of individual rights. 
There is an equally powerful argument that may be ad- 
vanced from the standpoint of social welfare. Society has 
become so complex that the limited and narrow education 
which was adequate in the past fails to fit the citizen to cope 
with the problems of the Great Society. In our somewhat 
extended analysis in Part Three we tried to make clear the 
magnitude and complexity of the tasks facing mankind. In 
every great division of human activity and interest formid- 
able obstacles bar the way to human advance, difficulty vies 
with difficulty as problems press for solution, and both the 


448 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


good-will and the insight of men are overtaxed. The mod- 
ern world demands effort on a higher level than men have 
reached. Undoubtedly a re-formed elementary education 
adjusted to the conditions of hfe as it is lived to-day, such as 
we have outlined im the preceding discussion, would go far 
towards narrowing the gulf that separates need from achieve- 
ment. But the best possible elementary education could 
but narrow this gulf — it could never close it. Through an 
education that is intelligent the energies and idealism of 
adolescence must be released and harnessed. ‘Those enthu- 
siasms which are allowed to dissipate themselves in trifling 
activity and fruitless phantasy must through a wiser form 
of secondary education be yoked to the tasks of the world. 
If its problems are to be solved, society must fearlessly sup- 
port that program which will enlist in the social service all 
the gifts of brain and heart which reside in its population. 
All men, even those of humble talents, must be made to in- 
terest themselves in the common weal. ‘This is the promise 
that universal secondary education holds out to the com- 
munity. | 
Has nature set definite limits to all forms of secondary 
education? One objection which is frequently raised to this 
expansion of secondary education deserves explicit atten- 
tion. Nature, it is urged, has set definite limits to the ex- 
tension of such opportunities. Since there are enormous 
differences in mental capacity, this argument seems to have 
some basis in fact. But in reality such an argument boldly 
begs the question. It assumes the finality of the content of 
the traditional secondary education, a content which was 
frankly developed to fit the capacities of a highly selected 
group of children. On analysis, this contention reduces it- 
self to the pure tautology that an education which is adapted 
to a certain level of intelligence is only suited to that level. 
The advocates of universal secondary education need hold 


FUNCTION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL = 449 


neither to the doctrine of native equality in mental endow- 
ment nor to the equally absurd doctrine that all secondary 
curricula must be alike. This discussion, however, raises 
two questions which merit careful and sympathetic consid- 
eration. 

In the first place, does not the broadening of secondary 
education involve the lowering of standards of achieve- 
ment and the consequent sacrifice of talent to mediocrity? 
Unless there is some provision made for different levels of 
ability, an affirmative answer must be given to this question. 
If the average student sets the standard for all, then, as a 
matter of course, the opening of the doors of the high 
school to all adolescents means the lowering of standards. 
But there is no good reason why the standards may not be 
as fully adjusted to the abilities of the individual as they 
ever were in the narrower secondary education of the past. 
In suggesting this solution no more is asked of the secondary 
school than a sound educational theory always demands of 
the elementary institution. The crime of neglecting differ- 
ences in capacity is no greater in the one institution than in 
the other. Nevertheless in the process of shifting secondary 
education over to the broader base especial care must be 
taken lest that group of exceptionally talented adolescents 
be slighted which has been the primary concern of the 
secondary school of the past. 

In the second place, there is an even more searching ques- 
tion. Is there not a point, reasonably high on the intelli- 
gence scale, below which it is socially unprofitable to extend 
the opportunities of secondary education? A direct answer 
to this question in terms of clearly demonstrable fact is im- 
possible to-day. Moreover, since any answer must rest on 
certain assumptions regarding the worth of human person- 
ality as well as on scientifically determined conclusions, an 
objective answer that will compel agreement probably can 


450 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


never be given. If the entire range of mental ability from 
idiocy to genius is included in this discussion, unless educa- 
tion is made to cover custodial treatment, few would defend 
in terms of social welfare the extension of secondary educa- 
tion to the lowest mental levels. While the absolute limits 
of educability are probably never reached in even the most 
poorly endowed, for practical purposes such limits may be 
assumed to exist. But, since as yet there is no calculus with 
which to equate individual and social welfare and thus to 
show at what point the loss to the common good in educa- 
tional expenditure overbalances the advantage to the indi- 
vidual, the precise determination of these limits is extraordi- 
narily difficult. At present next to nothing is known of the 
social value of a year of secondary education extended to an 
individual of a given mental and moral endowment. At best 
the worth to society of the teaching of any secondary school 
subject can be measured only by the crudest sort of guessing. 
Perhaps the greatest need in secondary education to-day is 
for experimentation regarding the educational possibilities 
of various types of subject-matter at the different mental 
levels. But, unless this experimentation is forced by the 
pressure of a practical educational need growing out of the 
presence in the high school of an increasingly heterogeneous 
population, it is not likely to be undertaken. Moreover, 
owing to the great social demand for education, an answer 
to this question cannot wait. We shall therefore take the 
position, a position which circumstance is forcing upon us 
and which educators are probably helpless to influence, that 
to all children during the period of adolescence, except the 
clearly defective, should be extended the opportunities of 
education. ; 

How does the extension of secondary education involve 
the abandoning of traditional notions? But if secondary 
education is to be education for adolescence, if the high 


' FUNCTION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL = 451 


school is to enroll practically all children of high-school age, 
if the activities of this institution are to be-definitely re- 
lated to the needs of life, those responsible for the admin- 
istration of the enlarged program will have to discard 
academic prejudices, display an experimental temper, ap- 
proach their task in a catholic spirit, and show an inde- 
fatigable industry. The old secondary education which 
was designed to meet the needs of the favored classes, and 
which was based on a static conception of the social order, 
presented relatively few and simple problems. Further- 
more, its problems are not our problems; we work to-day 
from different premises. In their experimentation educators 
will have to cut completely loose from those traditions 
which are the obvious product of the old order, traditions 
which have no a-priort validity. Experience gained in 
such a different setting can provide but little guidance. 
What was good in an education designed to meet the needs 
of a narrow class may very well be bad in an education 
with broader purposes. The fact that a form rendered 
genuine service under the old régime affords no proof of its 
serviceability in the new order. In many instances the pre- 
sumption may well be the reverse. Without reference to 
past performance, old practices will have to reéstablish 
their worth in terms of changed standards of value. If 
secondary education is to fit into the life of a modern de- 
mocracy, its entire structure will have to be rebuilt. Reor- 
ganization of secondary education is imperative; but effec- 
tive reorganization can hardly proceed without correspond- 
ingly radical changes in other divisions of the educational 
system and especially in that part of the system which rests 
upon the high school. 

What are the evils of college domination? As we have 
already observed, secondary education has always been 
dominated by the college. To a very large degree the activ- 


452 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


ities which have constituted the secondary school curriculum 
have been dictated by the college. During recent years the 
high school, at least in some sections of the country, has 
gained a limited independence; but even here in many and 
subtle ways the influence of the college persists. If the 
high school is to render its largest service, if it is to become 
a school for adolescence, if it is to consider the needs of that 
great majority of its students who complete their formal 
education on leaving its halls, college domination must cease. 
This is especially necessary in the case of the small high 
school with its limited curriculum and restricted resources. 
Needless to say, the selected group of adolescents destined 
to go to college must not be neglected. But, without sacri- 
ficing to the degree which is now customary the broader 
interests of the secondary school, provision can be made for 
these students. College entrance requirements and methods 
of admission, derived from traditional rather than scientific 
sources, are excessively arbitrary and needlessly restrictive. 
Such questions of mutual interest to the secondary school 
and the college should be adjusted, not by the college acting 
alone, but by a body representative of both mstitutions. 
How should the conflict between secondary school and 
college be resolved? The instrument with which the college 
has guarded its cloistered precincts and thereby reguiated 
the practices of the secondary school is the entrance require- 
ment. The college authorities have tacitly assumed that 
the only candidate fit to enter the higher institution is one 
who has completed an arbitrary number of units! of an 
arbitrary group of subjects. But, as to just what these sub- 
jects should be, there is little agreement. One is therefore 
faced by the anomalous situation of colleges enforcing the 
most diverse entrance requirements, yet each firmly believ- 


1 Unit is customarily defined in terms of “‘time spent”’ rather than in 
terms of achievement. 


FUNCTION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL = 453 


ing that the one road to educational salvation is that pro- 
vided by the specific disciplines which it prescribes. Only 
in the realm of ecclesiastical bigotry is there such diversity 
of creed, coupled in each sect with such blind faith in the 
finality of its own peculiar revelation. Against such a nar- 
row conception of entrance conditions evidence is accumulat- 
ing that fitness to pursue the college course is less a matter of 
meeting formal requirements than one of possessing a high 
level of intelligence, superior facility in reading and in oral 
and written speech, good habits of study and thought, and 
earnestness of purpose. Given these qualities, which the 
rigid college conventions measure very indirectly and inac- 
curately, success in college is practically assured. If the 
college is to perform its special function, without needlessly 
restricting and hampering the work of the secondary school, 
the barriers which guard its doors should be both high and 
wide. ‘Through the judicious use of carefully kept school 
records to determine moral and scholastic qualities and well- 
chosen mental tests to measure intellectual capacity and 
attainments in the native tongue, any college can select from 
the applicants for admission those young men and women 
who are best fitted by nature and training to undertake the 
higher education. 

Under such a procedure the high school would be set free 
from the hampering and demoralizing paternalism of the col- 
lege; its practices would be determined by those best quali- 
fied to determine them; and its philosophy would be devel- 
oped in response to the needs of secondary education. This 
would mean the removal of one of the most serious obstacles 
which block the way to that fundamental reorganization of 
secondary education which its changed conception makes 
necessary. ‘That we may allay the anxiety of those who 
cherish the notion that the college has been vouchsafed a 
special educational vision, it should be pointed out that, even 


454 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


after the abolition of the conventional entrance require- 
ments, this institution would continue to exert a great influ- 
ence over secondary education. So long as our high-school 
teachers secure a considerable portion of their training in the 
college, no one need fear lest the cutting of the leading strings 
whereby the college has held the secondary school in the nar- 
row path of rectitude will be followed by an unseemly pursuit 
of false ideals. "This powerful influence is the natural and 
legitimate force which should hold these two institutions 
together. 

What forces have created the junior high school? One 
phase of reorganization, representative of the changed con- 
ception of secondary education, has already gained great 
impetus. This is the longitudinal extension of the secondary 
school to cover the period of adolescence. The old form of 
organization, made up of an eight-year elementary school 
and a four-year high school, was not the result of any careful 
study of the nature of either the child or social life. It was 
the fortuitous product of an effort to build into a single sys- 
tem educational institutions dominated by conflicting and 
incongruous purposes. As might have been expected, all 
educational critics agree that this plan has failed to justify 
itself in practice. The contradictions and inadequacies of 
the conventional form of organization are now apparent. 
As a consequence, the secondary school is being extended 
downwards to include the upper two years of the old ele- 
mentary school, and the six years thus given to secondary 
education are divided into a junior and a senior division of 
three years each. ‘This represents an effort to make sec- 
ondary education cover the period of adolescence, the years 
from twelve to eighteen. It makes possible the bridging of 
that gap between the elementary school and the secondary 
school which was the legacy from the period when education 
followed class lines and society was organized on a class 


FUNCTION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL = 455 


basis. Although the closing of this gap is an important 
function of the junior high school, its purposes are as broad 
as the educational needs of children in the period of early 
adolescence. Perhaps the greatest immediate service which 
this institution will render is that of providing an opportu- 
nity of organizing, free from the domination of college and 
convention, a modern secondary school. In the junior high 
school experimentation can proceed with a boldness and a 
thoroughness which would not be permitted in an established 
institution. 

What should be the criteria for the selection of the cur- 
riculum of the enlarged secondary school? If we assume, 
therefore, that secondary education is to abandon the selec- 
tive principle in both its social and psychological aspects, 
that it is to care for the educational needs of all adolescents, 
that it is to cover a six-year rather than a four-year period, 
that it is to view the question of preparation for college in 
proper perspective, and that it is to function in a society that 
is striving towards democracy, what are the activities that 
should be introduced into the public high school to make 
possible the realization of its purposes? The first and most 
general answer is that the high school should continue on a 
higher level the work of the elementary school. For the 
most part the same criteria, adjusted to a maturer age, 
should be applied here, that serve as guides in the lower 
school. First, the activities of the high school should serve to 
induct the adolescent into the life of the group; second, they 
should be adjusted to his capacities and attainments; third, 
they should as far as possible appeal to his interests; fourth, 
they should not duplicate the work of the informal agencies; 
and, fifth, they should be drawn from the great common 
interests of men. 

Which criteria merit special emphasis? Certain of these 
general criteria must be given an emphasis in the secondary 


456 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


school which is somewhat different from that placed on them 
in elementary education. ‘This is particularly true in the 
case of the third and fifth criteria. The interests of adoles- 
cents must be definitely recognized in the curriculum, but 
strong effort must be made to stimulate interest in the prob- 
lems and tasks of social life. Youth must be taught to guide 
its behavior in the hight of the more remote personal and 
more abiding socia! interests. More attention must be 
given in the secondary than in the elementary school to the 
development of far-reaching purposes. Also, in the high 
school there must be some measure of differentiation which 
recognizes not only differences in ability and aptitude but 
also differences in vocational expectation. Although such 
differentiation is not to be encouraged at this level, some 
specific vocational training, where opportunity permits, 
should be provided for those adolescents who early are 
forced by circumstance into wage earning. While the tradi- 
tion should be stoutly maintained that the activities of the 
high school should be selected primarily because of their 
educational rather than their economic value, some con- 
cessions must be made to the immediately practical de- 
mands of a defective social order. 

What can the secondary school expect of elementary 
education? In the difficult task of inducting the child into 
the great society of modern times the high school builds on 
and continues the work of the elementary school. ‘This 
makes it necessary to summarize what we believe to be the 
desired outcomes of the first six years of education. By the 
time the child enters the period of adolescence, what are the 
more general powers which he should have gained through 
the processes of formal and informal education? In the 
first place, he should have a direct acquaintance with the 
immediate social and physical world. He should know 
something of the simpler activities in which men engage and 


FUNCTION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL = 457 


the more obvious environmental factors which condition 
life. In the second place, he should possess a wide repertoire 
of habits, dispositions, and appreciations formed in the give 
and take of the social life provided in the school and in the 
community. ‘These acquired powers should provide the 
more elementary controls necessary to the promotion of 
health and to the furthering of the family, economic, civic, 
recreational, and religious life. In the third place, he should 
have such a mastery of the tools of knowledge as to enable 
him to meet the common demands of life. He should be 
able to speak, read, write, and use the essential processes of 
arithmetic. In the fourth place, through the medium of his 
own concrete experiences and the language arts, he should 
have entered vicariously into the heritage of the race and 
thus have been introduced to the world of men and things 
that lies beyond the world of immediate sensory experience. 
That achievement in all these directions, and especially in the 
last named, will vary greatly according to the capacity of the 
individual is of course obvious. In the first three fields cer- 
tain minimum standards should be established. Although 
the attainment of these minimum standards will be ex- 
pected of all, in many instances, after the individual has 
been exposed to adequate training and has failed to reach 
the standard, adjustments will have to be made. At least 
for children of inferior intellectual capacity, repetition of 
work is a dangerous solution of the problem. In the fourth, 
little can be done beyond guiding the initial steps of the 
learner as he enters those boundless realms which the ac- 
cumulated experience of mankind has created. In this 
division there is a rapidly receding goal, a goal which even 
the most highly endowed cannot achieve in a lifetime. 
What must be the basic function of the secondary school? 
In this last division of educational effort must the high 
school make its maximum contribution. Especially must 


458 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


secondary education seek through the social heritage to 
adjust the individual to the conditions of life in the modern 
world and to give him insight into that world. The degree 
of insight. however, which an individual can acquire during 
six years of education is as definitely limited on the high 
school as on the elementary school level. And in a second- 
ary school which enrolls practically all adolescents, these 
limitations will be especially pronounced in the less gifted 
portion of its population. ‘The importance of the problem 
of determining the educational possibilities of the lower 
levels of mtelligence has already been emphasized. But in 
each of the first three divisions, as well as in the last, must 
the high school supplement the efforts of the elementary 
school. For all adolescents a wider first-hand acquaintance 
with the world is necessary than can be provided in the 
period of childhood. Furthermore, as the individual gains 
insight, he is able to make new observations and old ob- 
servations take on new meaning. ‘The constant contact 
with the local community, for example, should give signifi- 
cance to the principles which the student 1s expected to 
grasp. The development of habits, dispositions, and ap- 
preciations must also continue throughout the entire length 
and breadth of education. They become modified and are 
given a wider range of application with the growth of in- 
sight. Likewise, some attention must be given to the more 
complete mastery of the elementary tools of knowledge. 
Yet, if the work of the elementary school is well done, and 
if the teachers in the high school are well-trained, further 
achievement in the mastery of the tools of knowledge should 
follow naturally as a by-product of the other activities in 
which the student engages. But the great function of the 
high school will be to give insight into the social and natural 
world and that general intellectual and moral equipment of 
‘ideals and principles which may be expected to guide the 


FUNCTION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL = 459 


later conduct of the individual as he faces the difficult and 
critical situations of his life. 

The foregoing discussion suggests that there must be 
great differentiation of activities to meet the varying ca- 
pacities of adolescents and an increasing degree of differ- 
entiation to meet their diverse vocational expectations. In 
recent years the need for differentiation has received much 
attention, but the emphasis has been at the wrong point. 
Differences in vocational expectation have been exaggerated, 
while differences in capacity have been relatively neglected. 
There has apparently been an underlying assumption that 
the immediate interests and the future vocational career of 
the student are the only factors to be considered. ‘That this 
tendency rests on no secure foundation, the analysis of social 
life presented in Part Three makes clear. In each of the six 
great fields of human interest there is a large group of ac- 
tivities in which all, regardless of interest or vocational ex- 
pectation, must participate to the limits of their capacity. 
Let us therefore consider those basic elements which should 
constitute the core of the high-school curriculum and serve 
as the fundamental education of all adolescents. We shail 
then return to the question of the differentiation of the 
curriculum. 

What are the universal needs in the field of health? In 
order to discover those common activities which should con- 
stitute the core of the curriculum the demands made upon 
the school by each of the six great fields of human interest 
must be considered in turn — demands made by health, 
family, industry, citizenship, recreation, and religion. What 
should the high school do in promoting physical efficiency? 
That there are but limited possibilities for differentiation 
here is obvious. Since all adolescents maintain a corporeal 
existence and are subject to disease, lowered vitality, and 
death, every high-school student must participate In ac- 


460 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


tivities that will promote his own health and give him con- 
trol over disease. Likewise, since success in furthering 
health and in combating disease is greatly dependent on 
collective enterprise, there are large questions of social policy 
about which all should be enlightened. Besides participat- 
ing in activities which lead to the formation of desirable 
habits, every student should learn something about the pres- 
ent health situation and the prevalence of disease and physi- 
cal defect; he should be’given a colorful description of man’s 
age-long struggle against disease; and he should be taught 
the elementary principles of both personal and social hy- 
giene. He should be made intelligent about health and 
should be given a health conscience. If a student displays a 
special interest in health matters, he should be permitted to 
proceed further into this field. From such students may be 
recruited leaders in the conservation of human life. But the 
point to be stressed here is that within this field all must be 
given a certain minimum of experience. 

What are the universal needs in the field of family life? 
In the promotion of family life the situation is very similar. 
Most secondary school students are members of families; the 
great majority of them will found families of their own and 
become parents; practically all of them possess sex impulses 
that insistently seek expression; and, since the future of 
society is so intimately bound up with family welfare, all 
should be aroused to interest themselves in the problems of 
family life. The position that adolescents, according to 
their own personal desires or passing whims, should be per- 
mitted to receive or renounce instruction pertaining to this 
important field of human activity is indefensible. The 
school has a distinct obligation to discharge. Every student 
in the high school must be made to recognize the great social 
significance of the family; he must be made to see clearly the 
functions of this institution; he must be enlightened regard- 


FUNCTION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 461 


ing the problems of social adjustment in the realm of family 
relations; he must be given the best knowledge available re- 
garding the hygiene of sex; he must be given some knowl- 
edge of the laws of heredity and their application to the 
problems of social life; he must be made to realize the re- 
sponsibilities and difficulties involved in the founding of a 
family; he should be given some information about the care 
and growth of children; he should be equipped with those 
skills and knowledges and appreciations which make the 
home a pleasant place in which to live; and he should be 
made to regard conscious parenthood of a high order as a 
sacred function and as the highest type of social service. 
This should be the program forall. As in the field of health 
instruction, individuals should be permitted within limits to 
proceed further along profitable lines of interest. 

What are the universal needs in the field of industry? In 
the realm of economic interests, there is a whole field of un- 
specialized activity that must be based on and made mean- 
ingful by a common experience furnished by the school. As 
pointed out in the discussion of Problem 14, the improve- 
ment of the economic life depends only in part on that nar- 
row equipment ordinarily regarded as vocational. All stu- 
dents should realize the fundamental importance of economic 
life and economic forces; in imagination they should re-live 
the age-long struggle of the race in its efforts to gain food, 
clothing, and shelter from a somewhat niggardly and hostile 
environment; they should be given that general familiarity 
with the processes of production necessary to secure wise 
collective action; they should be brought face to face with 
those all but insoluble problems of distribution which are 
shaking western society to its very foundations; they should 
be taught to regard thoughtless and wasteful consumption 
as positively sinful; they should be acquainted with the 
criminal way in which our natural resources have been ex- 


462 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION ' 


ploited and be taught to look upon these resources as a 
sacred heritage; they should be encouraged to respect all 
forms and levels of necessary work and to regard even the 
simplest types of labor as valuable social service; and, lastly, 
they should be inspired with a zeal to codperate in the or- 
ganization of an economic life that is calculated to develop 
rather than destroy human personality. This is the com- 
mon program. In it to the limits of their gies all 
should participate. 

Within the narrower field of the vocational interest the 
school must make some provision for specialized training. 
To a degree it must impart those narrow skills and knowl- 
edges which constitute the equipment necessary to effective 
participation in specific callings. The extent of this program 
in the ordinary high school will receive consideration later in 
this section. But there are certain aspects of vocation 
which should be given a place in the common program. 
Many activities and studies, including both shop experi- 
ences and literary material, must be introduced into the 
school for the purpose of guiding the student to vocational 
decision. In a systematic way the adolescent should be 
made familiar with his own powers and with the more im- 
portant vocational opportunities in the world. Also, quite 
apart from any special vocational purpose, subject-matter _ 
should be drawn from vocational sources because of their 
cultural and human content. No adequate insight into the 
behavior of men and the complexities of the social order can 
be gained without a sympathetic and enlightened study of 
vocational life. 

What are the universal needs in the field of citizenship? 
In promoting the civic life, the need for an extensive common 
program is especially obvious. The student must not gain 
the impression, as he might and does in the present school, 
that the citizen may at his pleasure shirk the responsibilities 


FUNCTION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 463 


of citizenship. Here, as in the elementary school, the 
social life provides an educational opportunity in which all 
should participate. But at this educational level partic- 
ularly must instruction go far beyond these direct personal 
experiences. All students must be given some understand- 
ing of those basic human tendencies which shape and con- 
dition group existence; they must be given a wide view of 
coéperative life and human achievement in the past and 
thus be provided with perspective for the evaluation of prob- 
lems and measures; they must be made familiar with the 
working of our political institutions and acquainted with 
their merits and defects; they must be made intelligent about 
the great civic and social problems of the present rather 
than be held to a tedious study of the problems of the dis- 
tant past; they must be given a broad social consciousness 
and a feeling of membership in the larger groups; they must 
be given the most thorough training and guidance possible 
in the selection, following, and control of leaders; they must 
be inspired with those attitudes and ideals which, as we have 
shown in Problem 15, are essential to the conservation and 
improvement of life in the Great Society. At no point can 
this portion of the curriculum be determined by the desires 
of the individual student. The activities suggested, how- 
ever, are of such a character that it should not be difficult to 
enlist the energies of the adolescent. As in other fields, 
to those of special interest and aptitude opportunity should 
be provided for special and more intensive study. 

What are the universal needs in the field of recreation? 
In developing recreational interests much greater conces- 
sions must be made to the immediate desires of the individ- 
ual. The educational objective is not that of equipping the 
individual to bring about predetermined changes in his 
material and social environment; it is rather that of pro- 
moting the growth of a liking for and of developing an in- 


464 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


terest in certain activities. This is one of the most delicate 
of educational tasks. Because of the very definition of play 
and its unique psychological status, formal procedures, en- 
forced hours, prescribed curricula, and social regimentation 
are most dangerous. ‘The school can give the opportunity, 
it can make the conditions most favorable, it can recognize 
individual differences, but, after it has done its utmost, it 
may fail; it cannot force the individual to like to play. 
Hence freedom must be the watchword of the recreational 
program. Provided the activity be one that does not place 
in jeopardy some other great objective, such as health or 
effective citizenship, the school should not oppose its in- 
clusion in the curriculum. For a particular individual the 
recreational interest may be music, literature, art, biography, 
flowers, fishing, hiking, radio, or any one or combination of a 
thousand different activities. 

Certain of these, because they either require prolonged 
training or possess potentialities for future growth, should 
receive the special attention of the educator. Others, be- 
cause of the needs of American civilization, merit a favored 
position in the school. As was clearly shown in Problem 
16, American life, to a peculiar degree, centers in the eco- 
nomic interest, in the creation of material wealth, in the 
exploitation of nature. The ordinary individual, caught in 
a ruthless struggle for material success and social position, 
leads a strangely intense and anxious existence. By en- 
gaging in some form of recreation which takes him away 
from the world of railroads, telephones, factories, and 
cities, he seeks compensation for the unnatural life he is 
compelled to live. America possesses no rich folk-life, no 
splendid artistic heritage which might serve to ease the 
strains and moderate the stresses of a highly competitive 
social order. ‘This situation suggests the emphasis which 
should be given in the high-school curriculum. For the 


FUNCTION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL —§ 465 


purpose of developing the esthetic possibilities of our people, 
rich and varied offerings in music, literature, and art should 
be provided. Beyond this perhaps the wisest suggestion is 
that the student be given some free time in the school day 
during which he is strongly encouraged to engage in some 
activity that has great recreational possibilities. 

What are the universal needs in the field of religion? 
Finally, as we have contended in Problem 17, to omit from 
the school program any formal provision for the fostering 
or the religious life is to neglect the most important need 
of the individual and of society. Socially such a negative 
policy is disastrous, and educationally it can be attacked on 
the grounds that it provides no adequate unifying principle 
for the varied activities of the school. By the close of his 
high-school career every student must in one way or another 
have reached a working decision regarding the basic realities 
of life and the wider interpretations of the universe. If our 
teachers are sincerely religious, much of this instruction will 
be incidental. It will be provided through participation in 
the ordinary activities of the school and through intimate 
personal contacts between teacher and student. But much 
more must be attempted in the secondary school. Because 
of the interest that adolescents are known to manifest in re- 
ligious matters, because of the idealism that can usually be 
called forth at this period of development, and because of the 
transcendent importance of religion in the life of man, reli- 
gion must occupy an important place in the curriculum of the 
school. If religious forms could be divorced from a narrow 
sectarian interpretation, opportunity to participate in re- 
ligious devotionals should be provided. AII students should 
be introduced to the history of man’s efforts to establish a 
more perfect relation with the underlying forces of the uni- 
verse. Under sympathetic guidance they should be made 
acquainted with the great religious figures in history. All 


466 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


this must’ be provided in the formal curriculum. But it 
must never be forgotten that the religious consciousness is 
transmitted neither by signs nor by forms, but by spiritual 
contacts. 

What types of experience will satisfy these six basic 
needs? The larger educational needs have now been con- 
sidered. What should be the materials of instruction? 
From the foregoing analysis and exposition it is patent that 
the amount of curriculum differentiation dictated by differ- 
ences in social expectation is limited, more limited certainly 
than the clear-cut divisions within the present high-school 
curriculum would suggest. From present practice one might 
draw the conclusion that students pursuing the different 
curricula were to live in different worlds. As a matter of 
fact, in spite of the inequalities and divergencies in social 
condition, they will all live in much the same world. 
There is a great body of interests, common to all men, 
from which should be derived a large part of the curricu- 
lum of the secondary school. In furthering health and in 
improving the family, economic, civic, recreational, and re- 
ligious life, there is demand for much general instruction 
which cannot be imparted in the elementary school. 
General education, the basis for social integration and 
collective action, must continue throughout the entire 
period of adolescence. For the most part, the subject- 
matter of this general education, except that it is adjusted to 
a more mature intellectual and social experience, is not es- 
sentially different from that offered in the elementary school. 
The materials of instruction, therefore, which constitute 
the core of the secondary school curriculum, should include 
direct personal contacts, vicarious participation in the ex- 
perience of the race, and training in the use of the tools of 
knowledge. The relative emphasis which should be placed 
on these three different types of subject-matter in the gen- 


FUNCTION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL = 467 


cral education of secondary grade may now be considered. 

What concrete experiences are necessary at the secondary 
level? ‘The direct contacts should receive less emphasis at 
the secondary than at the elementary school level. Yet, for 
a very large proportion of the students in the public high 
school, because of their modest intellectual powers and in- 
terests, liberal provision for learning of this immediate and 
simple type must be made. By three different groups of 
activities, the social life of the school, contacts with the local 
community, and work in the shops and laboratories of the 
school, should these concrete and un-mediated experiences 
be provided. Perhaps the most important contribution 
can be made by the social life of the school, by that un- 
official program of athletics, organizations, debates, parties, 
and gatherings which the students themselves have created. 
In these activities, refined and adapted to the achievement 
of educational ends, all should participate. Through con- 
tacts with the life and occupations of the local community, 
contacts which should be much freer and more numerous 
than are customary to-day, the work of the school can be 
placed in its natural setting. In the shops and laborato- 
ries the student can be brought into direct touch with 
certain of the more complex and remote activities of life. 
But the student should be allowed to pause over these con- 
crete experiences only so long as they are educationally 
serviceable. 

What provision must be made at the secondary level for 
vicarious participation in the racial experience? ‘The work 
of the elementary school, combined with these concrete ex- 
periences provided at the secondary school level, should 
furnish a sound basis for those subjects of instruction in 
which the social heritage is more particularly conserved. 
Among these subjects the social studies are most important 
for inducting the adolescent into the life of the Great Society, 


~ 


468 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


Hence, from the first to the last year of the secondary school, 
materials drawn from history, political science, economics, 
and sociology should occupy the center of the curriculum. 
These materials should be organized into two types of 
courses. In the first type, through a wide survey of human 
achievement and progress the student should be given social 
perspective and appreciation; in the second type, by a de- 
tailed presentation of pertinent material he should be in- 
formed about the great problems of contemporary life. Al- 
though the natural sciences do not merit as much attention 
in this general program as the social studies, they should 
probably be prescribed in each year of the junior high school. 
The modern world cannot be understood without constant 
reference to science and its applications. The subject- 
matter drawn from this division of the social heritage should 
therefore seek to acquaint the student with the more im- 
portant applications of science to the lives of men.and to 
give him an appreciation of the place and significance of 
science in the modern age. It should be designed to illumine 
man’s condition: his place in nature, his hereditary equip- 
ment, and the principles of human hygiene. It should also 
aim at conserving and developing that interest in the natural 
world which every child brings to the school. But man has 
searched for the beautiful, as well as the true. The fine arts 
should form an essential part of general education at the 
secondary level. Primarily for the purpose of developing 
interest and taste literature, music, and art should be 
stressed in each of the six years of secondary education. 
While every student should not be compelled to engage in all 
of these activities, effort should be made to arouse in each 
individual a love for the fine arts. 

What attention should be given to the tools of knowledge 
at the secondary level? The mastery of the tools of knowl- 
edge should receive explicit attention in the high school. 


FUNCTION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 469 


In gaining control over the fundamental processes of lan- 
guage and number, the work of the elementary school re- 
quires supplementation. In both divisions of the secondary 
school, classes in both oral and written composition may be 
held. In many individual cases, where bad habits have been 
formed, reading should be taught. And in the early part of 
the junior high school it may be necessary to require all 
students to pursue a course in general or composite mathe- 
matics. Care must be taken, however, lest standards of 
attainment be set up which are higher than either the needs 
of life require or the conditions of life will sustain. Sound 
pedagogy demands that most of the facility gained in the 
language arts at the secondary level should come incident- 
ally from supervised participation in the other activities of 
the school. 

What provision must be made for differences in interest and 
vocational expectation? Although this common program will 
require practically all of the time of the ordinary student in 
the first year of the junior high school, towards the end of the 
period of secondary education an increasing portion of his en- 
ergies should be devoted to special interests. In our presen- 
tation of the needs in each of the six fields of human activity it 
_ was shown that only in the fields of economic and recreational 
interests are there large opportunities for differentiating the 
program. While in these two fields all students should have 
many experiences in common, nevertheless there are sound 
reasons for permitting education to follow special lines. After 
the more general demands of the economic life are met by the 
school, the narrower demands must be faced. One of the 
functions which the secondary school must perform is that 
of guiding the student to a decision regarding his future 
career. As the answer to this question begins to assume a 
definite form, the program of the individual should include 
subject-matter which would acquaint him more thoroughly 


470 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


with the nature of his prospective vocation and, at the same 
time, prepare him to meet its less specialized demands. At 
the level of secondary education, the introduction of system- 
atic instruction in the narrow and highly specialized skills 
and knowledges of specific occupations should be scrutinized 
with great care. As we shall urge in our discussion of vo- 
cational education, the secondary school must be extremely 
slow to sacrifice its major function of continuing general ed- 
ucation in favor of an education on the trade level. For the 
most part the more specialized skills and knowledges, where 
they cannot be acquired on the job, should be acquired later 
either in vocational and professional schools or through 
various forms of continuation education. 

In developing his recreational interests, the student 
should also be provided with extensive opportunities for 
giving expression to his personal desires. But since vocation 
and recreation are thus linked together in this discussion of 
the differentiation of the educational program, a certain con- 
trast between them should be indicated. In so far as the 
narrower vocational training is given, the student must of 
necessity follow a course that has been rather definitely pre- 
scribed by those who are familiar with vocational needs and 
conditions. Rigorous standards of achievement must be 
maintained. In the case of recreation the situation is very 
different. A long and detailed curriculum cannot be pre- 
scribed here by the authorities; the objective is an apprecia- 
tion and not a mastery. The criterion is subjective change 
and not external product. Freedom is the essence of the 
recreational life; recreational interest can never be de- 
veloped by strict regimentation and stereotyped curricula. 
However necessary at times may be these methods in other 
fields of instruction, in a recreational program they are in- 
congruous. In placing this interest in the formal program 
of the school, this danger must always be in mind. Recrea- 


FUNCTION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL = 471 


tion touches life at too central a point to be left wholly to 
chance or personal responsibility, but, as the school seeks to 
foster this interest, caution must be exercised lest the spon- 
taneity of the play activity be crushed. ‘This difference be- 
tween vocation and recreation, since sound education de- 
pends on its recognition, must not be forgotten or neglected. 

What provision must be made for differences in capacity? 
While differences in vocational expectation should not be re- 
flected in any large measure in the secondary school curric- 
ulum, the greatest possible provision should be made for 
differences in capacity. The extension of educational op- 
portunities to an increasingly heterogeneous population 
necessitates such provision. Especially in that common 
program which should constitute the core of the high-school 
curriculum these differences must receive recognition. 
Wherever possible, students must be classified into relatively 
homogeneous groups, homogeneous, that is, with respect to 
the particular traits and abilities necessary for participa- 
tion in the activity. There must, however, be some ac- 
tivities whose primary purpose Is that of bringing together in 
normal social relations individuals of widely differing capac- 
ity. But where the outcome contemplated is some form of 
personal achievement or some form of intellectual insight, in 
which for the time the life of the group assumes a subordinate 
position, such classification is to be desired. 

How should the program of classification be administered? 
The task of administering such a program would require 
radical re-adjustment and reorganization of conventional 
practice. In the first place, an extensive system of tests, 
records, and counsel should be instituted. Through this 
system, which should be especially active in the first and 
second years of the junior high school, but functioning 
throughout the period of secondary education, students 
would be classified and instruction would be constantly 


472 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


adapted to individual capacity and need. In the second 
place, the content of the curriculum should be modified to 
suit the different levels. The amount of material covered 
would be much greater in the faster than in the slower 
groups and the quality of the subject-matter would vary. 
At the lower levels concrete and illustrative material should 
abound, while at the higher levels the treatment should move 
forward to a much larger extent on the conceptual plane. In 
the third place, not only content but methods of instruction 
should be adjusted to differences in capacity. In the less 
gifted groups the recitation should move forward relatively 
slowly and emphasis should be placed on drill and repetition, 
while in the more gifted classes the recitation should proceed 
at a more rapid rate and drill should be reduced to narrow 
proportions. 

Why must special provision be made for the gifted stu- 
dent? ‘This discussion of the adaptation of instruction to 
differences in capacity may well be closed by directing at- 
tention to the gifted student. While no level of talent can 
be neglected, special provision must be made for children of 
superior gifts. They constitute society’s richest resource; 
potentially they are the greatest forces for both good and 
evil. In order that their powers may be developed to the 
utmost, an enlightened society will give much thought and 
time to their education. This attention to the superior in- 
dividual, however, should be carefully tempered by large 
emphasis,on social obligation. The persistence in the high 
school of the American tradition of exaggerated individual- 
ism could only be disastrous. Unless the gifted individual is 
made to feel a strong sense of obligation to turn his gifts to 
the promotion of social ends, his education may be an in- 
strument turned against society. 

What is the place of the languages and the abstract 
sciences? ‘The reader has observed that up to this point no 


FUNCTION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL = 473 


direct reference has been made to those subjects which have 
constituted the major portion of the conventional curricu- 
lum. He must have feared that the discussion of what is 
commonly regarded as the essence of secondary education 
has been overlooked. Perhaps the best approach to a con- 
sideration of this subject is through the question: In the pro- 
gram of a secondary school which is to minister directly to 
the needs of all classes and of practically all levels of ability, 
what place should foreign language, advanced mathematics, 
and abstract science occupy? This question, like most other 
educational questions, can only be answered by reference to 
the educational needs and capacities of the particular in- 
dividuals who compose the high-school population. Yet a 
general answer is not difficult. 

Why must these subjects be restricted to a few students? 
Needless to say, there is an important place for these subjects 
in the general plan of the secondary-school curriculum which 
has been outlined. In the last analysis, they must be classed 
as subjects leading to specialized careers and be accorded the 
position in the curriculum which such specialized subjects 
should occupy. Modern civilization is based upon mathe- 
matics and science, and the intimate association of peoples 
makes necessary the translation of thought from language to 
language. There are thus created certain highly specialized 
functions which must be performed by specially trained 
persons. Society requires the engineer, the chemist, and the 
linguist; but the numerical representation of such callings in 
the general population is very restricted. Moreover, the 
educational value of any one of these subjects, unless a rather 
high degree of mastery is secured, cannot be great. Until 
these facts are recognized, instruction in language, mathe- 
matics, and abstract science will be ineffective, and the sec- 
ondary school will be unable to achieve its wider objectives. 

As illustrative of the position which these subjects should 


474 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


occupy in the curriculum, consider the case of a modern for- 
eign language. If the teaching of this subject is to be justi- 
fied, a fair degree of mastery must certainly be achieved. 
Hence the emphasis should clearly be placed on quality 
rather than on quantity production. ‘The folly of gathering 
into the language courses a multitude of students, regardless 
of their interest, aptitude, or future, is apparent. The 
mastery of a second language, unless the individual is placed 
in a practical situation where the ordinary affairs of life de- 
mand it and provide opportunity for its acquisition, un- 
questionably requires very unusual talent. The wisest 
course to follow with respect to such subjects would seem to 
be the reverse of current practice. Only students possessing 
special objectives, interests, and abilities should be allowed 
to study a foreign language; and in all language instruction 
in the high school serviceable standards of achievement 
should be rigorously maintained. In the smaller high 
schools, unless economic resources are abundant, probably no 
foreign language should be taught, while in the larger schools 
instruction should be provided in some languages which re- 
ceive no attention to-day. 

The thesis which is being defended here is conservative 
rather than radical. So long as secondary education was 
highly selective, there was some reason for expecting all 
students to pursue the subjects of the traditional curriculum. 
We are merely maintaining that these subjects should be 
given only to that type of mind for which they were originally 
intended. Linguistic, mathematical, and scientific talent 
possess greater social value to-day than they possessed in 
earlier generations. ‘The population of the secondary school 
should be searched for such talents, and, wherever found, 
regardless of the social class in which they reside, provision 
should be made for their development. But it is educational 
folly to think in terms of great numbers. The growth of the 


FUNCTION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL = 475 


secondary school has rendered obsolescent for its wider popu-~ 
lation that curriculum which has served its narrow clientéle 
in the past. 

Why must the secondary school foster adult education? 
According to the conception of education presented in this 
volume, the more formal education of the masses of the pop- 
ulation should cease at the close of the secondary school pe- 
riod. Ifthe ordinary citizen, however, is to meet effectively 
the problems of life, if he is to live most fully, some provision 
must be made for the continuation of education after the 
termination of the formal instruction. The modern world 
is moving, new problems are constantly arising, new know- 
ledge is being discovered, new hopes are being created, the 
need for adjustment continues throughout the life-span of 
the individual. Opportunities for education must therefore 
be provided for the old as well as the young, for those who 
have assumed the burdens of maturity as well as for those 
who enjoy the liberty of childhood. To meet this situation 
there are many agencies, such as the newspaper, the theater, 
and the church, which perform large functions. But if 
knowledge is to be humanized, if experience is to be brought 
into the service of the common life, the educational institu- 
tions must bear the major responsibility for the continuation 
of education. While both the elementary school and the 
college should contribute to the achievement of this end, the 
high school, because its facilities are greatly superior to those 
of the elementary school, because it is much more accessible 
than the college, and because its methods and purposes are 
more in harmony with the need than those of either the ele- 
mentary school or the college, should become the chief 
agency and center for continued education in every com- 
munity. 

What is the function of the secondary school in American 
society? In these concluding paragraphs attention should 


476 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


be directed to the wider educational faith. Earlier in the 
discussion the strategic position occupied by the secondary 
school was indicated. In the establishment of the public 
high school as an upward extension of the elementary school, 
the road to higher education was opened to the masses 
and a major contribution was made to the intellectual eman- 
cipation of men. ‘That this extension of educational op- 
portunity is coming none too soon the analysis in Part Three 
of life in the Great Society clearly reveals. While the educa- 
tional tasks there outlined will require the combined efforts 
of all divisions of the system, the major part of the burden 
will have to be borne by the high school. Elementary educa- 
tion, though capable of being greatly improved in quality, is 
already extended to all; and the college enrolls many students 
to-day who hamper the achievement of its legitimate pur- 
poses. It is therefore at the secondary level that the ex- 
pansion must come and that education must most profoundly 
affect social life. The high school, in which the masses will 
receive the final years of their formal education and to 
which they will return for continued education in hours of 
leisure, should become the people’s university. 

If the promise of American life is to be realized, a promise 
which for a century and a half has thrilled the peoples of all 
countries, it will be realized through the secondary school 
rather than through the instrumentality of any other educa- 
tional institution. In a peculiar sense the free public high 
school is emblematic of the genius of America. On the ma- 
terial side this promise is well on the way to fulfillment; but 
on the side of the spirit, if it has not lost some of its vitality, 
it remains but a promise, an aspiration. America has 
achieved economic prosperity, material abundance, mastery 
over physical nature; but, unless this achievement promotes 
the more abundant life, unless it fosters simple kindliness, un- 
less it increases the love of justice, unless it kindles a love for 


FUNCTION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL = 477 


the beautiful, unless it stimulates the desire to know, unless 
it fashions a generous philosophy of life, unless it makes men 
happier, it is barren and unprofitable. If she is not to dis- 
appoint the hopes of mankind, America must complete the 
work which she has begun. Within the span of a single cen- 
tury she has risen from the humble position of a small and 
feeble state, lying on the outskirts of civilization and de- 
spised by the ruling classes of the old world, to a position of 
wealth and power unrivaled in the history of nations. Will 
America, long the symbol of liberty, equality, and fraternity 
among the oppressed of all lands, now that she is able to put 
substance into these ideals, succumb to the temptations of 
material success and lose the vision of her youth? 

Only through the generous support of an enlightened 
educational program, in which is brought to focus all the 
resources of the spirit, can the promise of American life 
be fully redeemed. That which no other nation could do, 
even though the will to do it existed, America can attempt 
with confidence. The rest of the world is impoverished. 
Through the material destruction of the War the advance of 
civilization has been set back a generation and the extension 
of educational opportunities in other countries is necessarily 
halted. Only in America can be found to-day that eco- 
nomic surplus which is essential to the support of the con- 
ception of secondary education which has been outlined in 
these pages. The public high school may become a powerful 
instrument for bringing intelligence to bear on the solution 
of the great problems which the race faces in modern times. 
This institution, enrolling the entire youth of the nation and 
keeping in touch with the ever-changing needs of social life, 
may become the central agency through which the ideal 
America may be brought into the world of reality. 


478 


10. 


11. 


12. 


13. 


14. 


15. 


PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


. What underlying social philosophy, peculiar to America, has created 


the free public high school? What is the justification for the state- 
ment that the high school more than any other of our educational 
institutions is an American product? 


. List the more obvious changes in secondary education which may be 


traced to the growth of the four-year high school enrollment from ap- 
proximately 200,000 in 1890, to over 2,000,000 in 1920? To what ex- 
tent have these changes kept pace with this growth? 


. Why has so little direct attention been given in the ordinary high 


school to equipping the student to participate intelligently in the basic 
social activities outlined in Part Three? 


. Why is the small high school much more conservative than the large 


high school? 


. In view of the fact that but ten per cent of students entering high 


school go to college, explain the domination of the high school by the 
college? What are the dangers of this domination? 


. How is the educational welfare of the student sacrificed who ends his 


educational career at the secondary level after completing the college 
preparatory curriculum? 


. What are the forces which, in spite of official opposition, have been 


responsible for the very rapid expansion during the last half century of 
the extra-curriculum activities? 


. In view of the continued extension of secondary education, what place 


should those activities occupy which in the older academic school were 
regarded as extra-curriculum? 


. To what extent is the private secondary school a survival of the dual 


system of education in Europe which reflected class cleavage in so- 
ciety? 

What would be the social consequences of attempting to give to the 
great majority of adolescents a secondary education consisting chiefly 
of foreign language and mathematics. 

By what arguments would you justify the somewhat paradoxical state- 
ment that the traditional academic curriculum is essentially vocational? 
To what extent is the attainment of the purposes of mathematical and 
linguistic instruction dependent on a rigorous selection of the students 
permitted to pursue these subjects? 

What preparatory steps must be taken before an efficient system of 
vocational guidance can be established in the large city high school? 
In what measure has the extension of the opportunities of secondary 
education lowered the intellectual temperature of the high school? 
Why is this question of such concern to the college? 

In what respects should the content of instruction employed in the 
secondary schools of a democratic society differ from that used in the 
schools of an aristocratic society? 


PROBLEM 21 
WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF THE COLLEGE? 


Is the college a selective institution? — What responsibility has the college 
for the intellectually mediocre? — Can the college create intellectual inter- 
est in the ungifted? — How may the college raise its intellectual tone by 
selection and elimination? — What provision must be made for those elim- 
inated? — What purpose will be served by this elimination? — What is the 
function of the college of liberal arts? — What is the responsibility of the 
college for training leaders? — How must the curriculum of the college re- 
flect the six basic life activities? — What is the relation of the college to 
vocational specialization? — How is the elective system functioning? — 
How has the specialization of knowledge affected the college instructor? — 
What is the fundamental weakness of college education? — How may knowl- 
edge be integrated? — Why must the college stress social responsibility? — 
How must the student body be differentiated for instructional purposes? — 
Does the present college foster intellectual achievement? — How must the 
college redirect the extra-curriculum activities? — Why does the Great 
Society presuppose disinterested intellectual leadership? — How does the 
Great Society overtax the intellectual powers of the ordinary citizen? — 
What is the function of the college? 


Is the college a selective institution? The elementary 
school is non-selective; slowly but surely the secondary 
school is drawing the total population. The elementary 
school but slightly and the secondary school in greater 
degree can only be selective through differentiated courses 
of study. As opposed to these two institutions the college 
must frankly restrict its opportunities to a portion of the 
population. Because of the nature of its task, its privileges 
must be available only to those who show evidence of 
possessing the properties of mind and heart which will en- 
able them to benefit from its own peculiar activities and 
contribute to its wider social objectives. Before the aims of 
the college can be considered the selective function of this 
institution must receive attention. 


480 - PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


What classes of students attend college? The college ! 
as it exists to-day contains an extraordinarily heterogeneous 
student body. In spite of prerequisites and entrance re- 
quirements the stream of young men and women that are 
entering its gates shows a very wide diversity in training, 
mental equipment, intellectual interest, social ideals and 
future objective. This extreme diversity is at the same 
time beth a challenge and a menace. For convenience, the 
students of our colleges may be divided into three classes: 

(1) Those of high endowment whose main purpose is the 
perpetuation and advancement of the intellectual 
tradition and heritage; 

(2) Those of equally high intellectual endowment who 
are training for important professional or adminis- 
trative work; ? 

(3) Those who enter college primarily for its social life, or 
for the sake of the hall-mark of the diploma and who 
lack the native ability, the intellectual training, or 
the ambition necessary for the pursuit of any work of 
a high intellectual order. With this class may be in- 
cluded an increasing group of faithful students who, 
in spite of severe exertion, are unable, because of 
meager native endowment, to keep the pace to which 
the first two classes should be subject. 

What responsibility has the college for the intellectually 
mediocre? ‘This situation suggests the crucial question re- 
garding the higher learning in America: Has the college, as 
a specialized institution, any responsibility to the growing 
number of students who obviously fall in the third class? 
Are the resources of the colleges, and indeed of the country, 


1'The Editor of School and Society kindly granted permission to use cer- 
tain material from one of our articles, ‘‘The Failure of the College.”’ 

2In this group must be included many women preparing for home- 
making in its most liberal interpretation. 


FUNCTION OF THE COLLEGE 481 


sufficiently great to justify an attempt to give a college edu- 
cation to those whose intellectual capacities are but medi- 
ocre or to those who regard, and continue to regard, the 
intellectual activities as a necessary but evil concomitant of 
college life? Must the college assume educational responsi- 
bility for those of limited talent and interest who, under 
present conditions, are capable of satisfying the entrance 
requirements? That the college is able to render a distinct 
social service in the education of this class cannot be denied. 
But this is not the point at issue. The fundamental ques- 
tion 1s concerned with the degree to which this third class 
can be enrolled in the college without imperiling those 
larger interests of higher education which center in students 
of really superior intellectual gifts. Only in so far as full 
opportunity for entering college is being given to all mem- 
bers of the community who fall in the first two classes, can 
room be found for students of the third class. Furthermore, 
only as adequate and suitable disciplines and procedures are 
extended to the former, should society provide for the latter. 
The college must be primarily a selective institution. Only 
after it has met the demands of those who are nurtured by 
its intellectual life can it afford to divert its energies and 
resources to “holiday seekers” craving the diversions of a 
country club or students whose intellectual gifts are such 
that the academic life is a bondage kardly brooked. 

Can the college create intellectual interest in the ungifted? 
The function of education is to produce changes. The rate 
at which these changes can be made at the higher levels of 
education is less a function of the teaching provided than of 
the intelligence of the pupil. ‘The hope of educating in 
academic things those who lack the academic bent is con- 
ceived in folly. In intellectual matters many are called but 
few are chosen. Is it fair to expect the kindly and versatile 
professor, by some heaven-sent skill, to coax or dragoon the 


482 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


protesting many into the same fold? No country, even 
countries where the things of the mind are relatively more 
valued than in our own, has ever attempted to train in 
academic ways the intellectually mediocre. Can we with 
our different social values and incentives expect to achieve 
success? One can imagine the laughter of the gods as 
they see our colleges proceeding in all solemnity to their 
futile task. Some instructors, realizing the incongruity of 
college purpose and student material, drop all pretense at 
stimulating to high intellectual endeavor and fall back 
into “ schoolmastering’”’ the lower sections of the class. 
The fact is, to educate such heterogeneous groups together 
is impossible; either we serve the best and discourage the 
mediocre and poor, or else, as is commonly the case, serving 
the untalented we neglect the gifted. To neglect the latter, 
those alone who are capable of making a large social return, 
is nothing less than the folly of misguided democracy. Is it 
not high comedy to witness the colleges embarking seriously 
on a vain quest? ‘To seek an impossible goal is the surest 
way to destroy morale; the lowering of the intellectual tone 
of the college, which is the serious factor to-day, is the 
inevitable result of this ill-conceived policy. 

How may the college raise its intellectual tone by selec- 
tion and elimination? In view of the limited facilities of the 
college, what must be done to meet the situation? The fol- 
lowing are the main changes required: (1) much more gener- 
ous but rigorous selection on the basis of intellectual endow- 
ment and interest; (2) more elimination from the college of 
liberal arts, particularly during the first and second years 
of the course. An active pursuance of the policy of more 
rigorous selection and of early elimination of students of 
low calibre would economize the effort of both faculty and 
students. The aims of the liberal arts college, as we shall 
show, are such that an appeal to a wide population is not to 


FUNCTION OF THE COLLEGE 483 


be expected. The differences in intellectual curiosity and 
desire to understand, which exist among men, are as marked 
as differences in other traits and, at the same time, are 
probably no more subject to educational influence. Even 
assuming the maximum influence which education can bring 
to bear on the individual in the attempt to kindle the desire 
to search out the ways of nature and of men, but few can be 
expected to embark on the whole-hearted quest for knowl- 
edge. 

As a student, either because of limited intelligence or lack 
of effort, 1s found incapable of deriving great good from the 
college course, elimination should be the natural outcome. 
At the end of the second year, when presumably the founda- 
tions of culture have been laid, transference either to the 
occupational life or to the vocational schools should be the 
recognized course for many of the students. If the third 
and fourth years of college education are to be reasonably 
effective, the lower quarter or even half of the second- 
vear class should be encouraged to withdraw. In view of 
the fact that this group has completed half of the course, 
some college certificate or diploma might be awarded. 
This diploma would indicate that the possessor had been 
subject to a general cultural course for two years and that 
he had enjoyed the social privileges of college life for a 
season. It would also indicate that his record or his ob- 
jective at the end of the first two years did not justify the 
college authorities in recommending him to devote further 
time to a general liberal education. 

What provision must be made for those eliminated? 
This elimination from the college of liberal arts, as we have 
previously suggested and as we shall further elaborate in 
our discussion of vocational education, will not mean that 
additional education is to be denied the student. Any 
further period of formal instruction, however, would be 


484 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


spent in studies leading directly to a specific vocation, stud- 
ies so related to the future occupational career of the 
student as to arouse an interest and ¢all forth an effort 
which is notably lacking in this type of student when sub- 
jected to the general studies of the college. The student 
who lacks the divine spark to kindle energy for the intel- 
lectual quest of the liberal arts course would not be dragged 
into the college to distort its aims and to overtax or falsify 
his own interests. He would be compelled to make a ten- 
tative vocational choice, and in the light of this choice would 
enter the professional department of his own institution or 
be transferred! to a professional school elsewhere. This 
does not mean that all general education must cease on 
entering the vocational school. Since nature makes no 
hard and fast lines between men, the measure of general 
education that will accompany these distinctly vocational 
courses will vary greatly; in every course there will be some 
cultural material, and for the better-endowed vocational 
student there will be an increasing amount. ‘Thus, there 
will spring up, affiliated with our colleges, what eventually 
will be professional or semi-professional schools. These 
institutions will fit their members to engage in the various 
professional and semi-professional occupations which are 
evolving in modern life. 

What purpose will be served by this elimination? For 
the few who have genuine intellectual interests the liberal 
arts college will be made more liberal; its methods, curric- 
ulum and spirit will be adjusted to the energies of the 
intellectually robust. For the remainder, which at the 
present time is by far the larger portion of our college popu- 
lation, an education which makes a much more obvious 


1 Tt cannot be made too clear that the superior student will take the full 
college course before entering the professional school, even though entrance 
to the school is permissible before the completion of the college term. 


FUNCTION OF THE COLLEGE 485 


and direct contribution to the vocational life will be intro- 
duced. Through such a program three valuable aims will be 
achieved. Firstly, the stimulating social life of the campus 
will be enjoyed by a much larger group of the population 
than can possibly find a place in the liberal arts college; 
secondly, the liberal arts college will be freed from an incu- 
bus which threatens, if it has not already killed, the liberal 
tradition; thirdly, the passive resistance or passive assist- 
ance in learning, which marks such a large proportion of the 
behavior of the present college population, will be trans- 
formed into an aggressive pursuit of knowledge. 

Why four years of college? One further point should be 
made. The conventional duration of the college course rests 
on no adequate analysis of the educational and sociological 
factors involved. No peculiar efficacy attaches to a four- 
year period of college education; certainly the incident of 
graduation does not deserve the dramatic place which it 
now occupies in American life. Some students can benefit 
from four, some from three, some from two, and some from 
one year of general education beyond the secondary school. 
In caring for this class of students, who are seeking the 
higher education in increasing numbers, the junior college 
may be expected to perform a valuable function. Each 
student should be encouraged to leave the college for the 
occupation or for specific vocational training as soon as the 
return from the general education received becomes socially 
unprofitable. Our colleges are full of so-called ‘‘ students ” 
who “just to graduate’ are unwillingly bondsmen to the 
regime. Can work of a high order be done when the ranks 
of the student body retain so many of these time-servers? 

What is the function of the college of liberal arts? With 
this smaller and more highly selected student body, the 
intellectual temperature of the college of liberal arts would 
be raised; instructors would be relieved from the onus which 


486 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


the presence of mediocre students imposes and could direct 
their attention to the consummation of the major aims of 
the college. These aims must now be discussed. Whatever 
may be the subsidiary objectives of the college course, 
one purpose is outstanding. While each of the separate 
courses may, in some direct or indirect way, contribute to 
vocational efficiency, the total college course of the student 
must be evaluated in terms of a wider purpose. We shall 
assume, as basic to the selection and evaluation of the activi- 
ties of the college, that the larger outcome of a college educa- 
tion is to create in the student an understanding and ap- 
preciation of the principles upon which must be reared that 
society and that civilization for which the clear in mind 
and the pure in heart are continually striving. Stated in 
these terms, the main function of the college may appear to 
be so general as to be valueless, and so difficult to accom- 
plish as to be discouraging. To combat this obvious criti- 
cism it will be necessary to state more explicitly this larger 
aim and then to examine the present practices of the college 
to see the reasons why such an inclusive social purpose is 
the necessary goal of this institution. 

What is the meaning of the word “‘liberal’’? Since the 
college is only incidentally a place of preparation for voca- 
tional efficiency, it must be judged mainly by the extent to 
which those who engage in its activities are being liberalized. 
For many reasons there is need at the present time to stress 
those values which are inherent in the very name of the 
institution — the college of liberal arts. The word “ lib- 
eral ” in its most obvious meaning, as applied to education, 
has a wide connotation. It signifies a generous and plen- 
tiful training, a training that frees from ignorance, super- 
stition, dogmatism and narrowness in ideas, doctrines, or 
sympathies. ‘To be liberal is to be free, to be liberated, to 
believe in the extension of freedom in educational, political, 


FUNCTION OF THE COLLEGE 487 


social, religious, and other institutions. It is something 
dependent upon knowledge, yet of a different order. 
Knowledge is but one element in the making of a “ free- 
man.” An individual is liberated not by information and 
by great learning, but rather by an attitude toward life. 
To be able to see two sides of a question, to realize ignorance, 
to appreciate expert service, to feel an abiding obligation to 
study and direct the course of social life, to be public spie- 
ited, to recognize the claims of national and international 
obligations, these are the hall-marks of the man whose edu- 
cation has made him free. Only as our colleges submit 
their students to broad, generous, and humane learning, 
calculated to foster these virtues, can they hope to send 
forth free citizens. Only as men and women of this temper 
take their places in the Great Society with a fixed determina- 
tion to cleave to that which is good and to shun that which 
is evil, can any hope be held out for a more secure and 
humane world. 

What is the responsibility of the college for training lead- 
ers? Put in another way, the aim of the college must be to 
train leaders who will be capable of viewing broadly and dis- 
interestedly the problems of a codperative society; leaders 
who will rise above class interests and class prejudices, who 
will be dominated by a spirit of service, who honestly and 
courageously will tread the paths which lead to progress. 
Into these chosen individuals must be inculcated, by a _ 
special type of education, those social ideals without which 
our material advance is mere emptiness. A new social con- 
sciousness and a new conception of the interrelations of the 
social order are imperatively demanded. Since the begin- 
nings of formal education, the higher institutions may be 
said to have existed to train leaders; to-day care must be 
taken lest the college lose sight of this function which is 
peculiarly its own. 


488 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


How must the curriculum of the college reflect the six 
basic life activities? Throughout the discussion of ele- 
mentary and secondary education the importance of making 
instruction center around the fundamental activities of 
physical, family, economic, civic, recreational, and religious 
life, has been stressed. But the work of these lower schools, 
because of the necessary emphasis on tools of knowledge, 
and because of the immaturity and heterogeneity of their 
population, cannot be sufficient to give the more complete 
insight required by those who are to occupy positions of 
leadership. By the time the selected student is ready to 
pass into the college, having acquired the more fundamental 
tools and experiences, he is free to devote his energy to the 
important task of gaining a wider and more thorough 
understanding of these basic life interests. What the ele- 
mentary and secondary schools have striven to do with 
reference to the six basic activities in a relatively simplified 
way, for the total population, that must the college continue 
to do at a higher level for its selected population. On 
account of the greater selection and greater maturity of its 
student body, it will be able to codrdinate and correlate the 
various fields of human endeavor, in an attempt to show how 
each makes its essential contribution to the progress of 
mankind and the satisfaction of worthy human aspirations. 
Unless the college activities are selected, arranged, and 
weighted to give this wider vision of human activities, the 
student will enter the specialized training of the professional 
school or the specialized training of the vocation without 
the perspective or world outlook which is to give signifi- 
cance and value to the occupational life. In other words, 
the college must make the individual capable of being some- 
thing more than a specialist in his particular chosen field; 
it must liberate him from the narrow confines of his specific 
occupation and show him the wider obligations and fields 


FUNCTION OF THE COLLEGE 489 


of service which are open to him who is socially minded, as 
well as professionally minded. 

What is the relation of the college to vocational special- 
ization? ‘Though much may be done to furnish useful pro- 
fessional background, the liberal college must never adopt 
as its main function that of providing vocational training. 
The professional schools or the vocations themselves must 
be held largely responsible for the specific information and 
skills which the specialized vocations demand. If the 
college abandons its own peculiar function, that of impart- 
ing to its students the larger viewpoint of society, it abdi- 
cates its high calling. Other institutions, with other aims, 
can never take the place of the college in this liberalizing 
work. Unless the social interpretations of life are stressed 
by the college, however successful may be the later pro- 
fessional training, the members of the profession, because of 
their limited vision, will be incapable of rendering their 
maximum contribution to the body politic. To adopt the 
wider objective will not lessen effectiveness in the special- 
ized occupation, but will rather add a richness to it and give 
it a range of application which is lacking and must always 
be lacking if the pressure for vocational training has been 
permitted to oust the humanistic disciplines. 

How is the elective system functioning? Before exam- 
ining critically the various activities of the college, it will be 
well to state again what we believe to be its chief aim. This 
is, to create in the student an understanding and apprecia- 
tion of the principles upon which must be reared that so- 
ciety and that civilization for which the clear in mind and 
pure in heart are continually striving. The significance of 
this statement will become clearer as we evaluate present 
practices in terms of their contribution to this larger pur- 
pose of social realization and world unification. 

The activities of the college are sufficiently uniform to 


490 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


admit of general examination. ‘Throughout the four-year 
period a number of courses in a varying number of subjects 
are taken by the student. Although, as a general rule, the 
courses are independent, prerequisites and sequences are 
often demanded. - Some of the courses, particularly in the 
first and second years, are compulsory; the remainder are 
optional. Within limits, diverse schemes of major and 
minor studies control the range of free electives. Since the 
elective system was instituted at Harvard the general 
tendency has been to increase the freedom of choice. Not 
only has this practice been extended on account of the ever- 
growing number of studies, but it has also been favored by 
that changed attitude toward mental discipline which has 
already been discussed. Since no particular subject or 
group of subjects could be justified because it possessed 
some peculiar power of disciplining the mind, since the range 
of subjects offered was constantly enlarging with each new 
department, the path of least resistance was to adopt the 
laissez faire method of procedure. With certain minor 
restrictions, this was to present the vast menu and allow the 
student to choose at will his intellectual banquet. Pro- 
vided a certain number of good plain dishes were chosen at 
the beginning, provided the rest of the meal presented a 
semblance of balance, the student was left to select accord- 
ing to the dictates of his mind, heart, convenience, and 
inclination the remaining constituents from which his 
intellectual sustenance was to be derived., Such is a fair 
account of the elective system as it is working in the 
majority of our larger colleges. 

How may the elective system be criticized? Since it 
replaced a traditional course of study which was practically 
uniform for the whole student body, the free elective system 
inevitably has been subject to the most stringent criticism. 
What is to ensure that the student choose from pure mo- 


FUNCTION OF THE COLLEGE 491 


tives? What is to guarantee that his course of study does 
not reflect an ignorance of the true purpose of a college edu- 
cation? May not even the serious student exhibit a lack of 
aim, a scattered aim, or an aim so narrow that he misses the 
unity of knowledge? Is he not inclined to select courses be- 
cause of a specific and limited vocational appeal? All these 
questions and many more have faced the administrators of 
our colleges since this system was introduced. To offset 
these dangers, numerous and sundry regulations are in 
vogue, designed to insure suitable sequences and balanced 
“ourses. These regulations, seeking to prevent the student 
from undue specialization, are good, but they will never of 
themselves accomplish the purpose for which they are set 
up. Better selection of isolated courses is not so much de- 
manded, as is a different philosophy of college education, 
and a different spirit manifested in the teaching of each 
division of knowledge. 

How has the specialization of knowledge obstructed the 
fulfillment of the aim of college education? Without con- 
sidering the twofold question as to the general viewpoint of 
the teacher, and the specific aim which directs his teaching 
of the subject, it is idle to discuss the manner in which any 
particular course or subject contributes to the liberalizing of 
the mind of the student. Even philosophy and history, 
taught by well-informed specialists with the aim of produc- 
ing academic specialists, may fail to give the student the 
wider view of his relationships to life for which ‘we believe 
the college to exist. If this criticism applies to these noble 
subjects with their ample domains, how much more applic- 
able must it be to the narrower fields of knowledge which 
find a proper place in the college curriculum. Isolated 
courses, in isolated subjects, taught by isolated specialists, 
are ill adapted to accomplish the end that has been laid 
down for the college. But, in repeating the word “isolated, ” 


492 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


we may rightly be accused of assuming that which we set 
out to establish. 

How has the specialization of knowledge affected the 
college instructor? Let us examine the typical college in- 
structor to see the preparation and bias which he brings 
with him into his teaching relationships. In the better in- 
stitutions he is an individual who has been trained for many 
years in the field that he is teaching. In all probability 
during his college course he majored in his present specialty; 
during his graduate course he spent the larger part of his 
time within this field and made at least one intensive inves- 
tigation into some more or less recondite issue. Since 
entering teaching, in order to become acquainted in the 
most detailed manner with some specialized aspects of his 
subject, he has increasingly narrowed his interests. His 
reputation in his subject and his rapid promotion have been 
largely dependent on his success as a scholar and investi- 
gator. It is not to be marveled at that an individual with 
academic leanings before such a training, becomes increas- 
ingly academic in his interests, until eventually, from the 
ways of men cut off, he shows all the narrowness and 
pedantry of the academic mind. Is it any wonder that, 
“seeing through a class darkly,” he values above all else aca- 
demic precision, and regards his own subject as occupying 
some specially favored position in the eyes of Athena? 
Is such a man, with his intense parochial loyalty, likely to be 
interested in the broader interpretation of his field? Is he 
not precluded, by his worship of the academic fetish and by 
his meticulous regard for a formal exactitude in knowledge, 
from integrating his own work with other fields of knowledge 
in which he knows himself to be a relative tyro? The cob- 
bler must stick to his last, and the college professor, though 
education languish and his students perish, must not stray 
from his own specialty. Even if his long intensive training 


FUNCTION OF THE COLLEGE 493 


has not made him averse to such apparent digressions. hy 
the fear of encroaching on his colleagues and by the fear, 
apparently a most terrifying fear, of revealing an absence 
of the most recent knowledge in the allied field, he will be 
prevented from taking the students on these illuminating 
excursions. Such is, admittedly, an extreme picture, but it 
is sufficiently true to disclose one of the perils of college 
instruction. 

What are the limitations of his teaching? As aman feels 
in his heart, so will he teach. Unless in his teaching a 
college instructor is willing to forget the research bias of 
his training and of his study, the breadth of his influence 
will be limited. If his teaching is merely an adjunct to his 
research, he will impart his subject as an isolated intellectual 
discipline, he will select his subject-matter and choose his 
procedures with the conscious aim of training individuals to 
become specialists and investigators within his field. The 
fact that ninety-nine per cent of his class are certain not to 
pursue the academic path is disconcerting; but, through the 
conscientious and continuous repression of this dishearten- 
ing thought, he can still bring himself to believe that the in- 
struction must be dominated by the academic motive. All 
the leading men in his field, whom he has become accus- 
tomed to admire, were trained with this subject-matter 
and with these methods; therefore, it follows without ques- 
tion, that these same means must be employed in his own 
teaching. Every hour is harnessed and every step taken to 
produce that acquaintance with the subject which is of 
maximum value for further investigatory advance in the 
same line. Here is the most obvious weakness of college 
teaching. It is thorough, it is logical, it is accurate, above 
all, it is academically respectable, but it fails signally to 
produce that for which it is presented to the student body 
of the college. Instead of revealing the manner in which the 


194 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


particular field of endeavor integrates with other fields in 
the attack on the problems of human existence, instead of 
exhibiting the reasons for the patient study of such prob- 
lems by showing their human applications, it rather tends 
to confine the mind within a narrow compass, full of aca- 
demic interest, but empty of human interest for all except 
the specialist. It may serve a narrow vocational purpose, 
it may acquaint the student with certain specific or even 
general procedures, but it fails, because its aim is wrongly 
conceived, in giving that wider vision which is the peculiar 
obligation of college education. 

What is the fundamental weakness of college educa- 
tion? The isolation of one subject from another, and the 
isolation of each subject from a social content is the greatest 
obstacle which the college faces in its task of providing that 
world point of view which the German word Weltan- 
schauung so admirably connotes. Such division of subject 
matter, largely for the convenience of investigation, is apt 
to destroy the unity of knowledge, or at least make it ex- 
ceedingly difficult to give the student a clear realization of 
the unified attack which by their specialized work scholars 
in various fields are furthering. Instead of seeing languages 
and literature, the natural sciences and mathematics, the 
social sciences and philosophy as tools, forged by man to 
attack the insistent problems of living, instead of seeing 
these as an ordered and integrated scheme for furthering 
human knowledge and satisfaction, he is apt, under present 
conditions, to engage in each as a separate and isolated 
discipline. On this account, he fails to derive from the 
study its most significant meaning. Instead of a unified 
and integrated educational experience with a single purpose 
to which all other aims are subsidiary, each experience re- 
mains an isolated unit and the subsidiary aims occupy the 
focus of attention. This unfortunate state of affairs is the 


FUNCTION OF THE COLLEGE 495 


result of the increase in the bulk of knowledge which has 
brought in its train an increasing degree of narrow specializa- 
tion. Just as the worker in industry, engaged in his task, 
never sees the bearing of his work on the larger aims of the 
industry, so the student in his various specialized studies 
never realizes the larger aims of knowledge. 

What type of instructor is demanded? To correct this 
obvious defect of our present methods of instruction several 
proposals have been made. The ideal manner in which to 
meet the situation would be to create a corps of instructors 
more broadly trained and more humane in their interests. 
In the place of the research objective,! or at least on an 
equality with it, the training of the college teacher should 
aim to give such a knowledge of the significance of the 
particular subject and of its various relationships to other 
fields and to the wider problems of human existence, that 
the teacher, when imparting the limited facts and methods 
of his particular subject, could not refrain from showing the 
wider implications of his discipline. This is difficult to 
accomplish, it implies a different emphasis in our graduate 
schools; but it must be planned for with an assiduity which 
at the present time is given almost wholly to research activ- 
ities. ‘The research point of view is necessary to give vital- 
ity to the teacher’s intellectual life, but it must be supple- 
mented by a broadness of outlook, for which at the present 
moment our graduate schools, the source of college teach- 
ers, feel little responsibility. The older professor of general 
philosophy or of natural science who regarded the divisions 
of human knowledge, which are now so religiously followed, 
as largely accidental and of little importance for elementary 


1 It may be desirable for certain graduate schools to offer a teaching Ph.D. 
as well as a research Ph.D. For the teaching degree a small amount of 
research would be demanded, and the time saved would be devoted to in- 
culcating an interest in and a technical knowledge of the educational and 
teaching problems of the college. 


496 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


teaching, had many merits. He had a vantage point as a 
teacher of the liberal mind, which our present specialists 
lack. But this is a difficult solution and is at best delayed. 
Under existing conditions, what must be done to further 
the liberalizing influence of the college? 

How may knowledge be integrated? At least one sig- 
nificant experiment is being tried. As we pin our faith 
naively to courses in the separate fields, it is but natural 
that the first step should be to establish another course, 
wide in its conception and inclusive in its subject-matter, 
the chief function of which is to exhibit to the student that 
unity of knowledge which the separate courses lack. In 
this course, the primary aim is to acquaint the student with 
the larger problems of our civilization and to show how the 
various fields of intellectual endeavor are making their 
contribution to the total body of knowledge. For this 
course, and for this course alone, in the solution of the prob- 
lems of contemporary life, the various divisions of knowl- 
edge, which have become artificially separated for special- 
ized investigation, are drawn upon as though such hard and 
fast lines had never been laid down. Anthropology, 
biology, chemistry, history, literature, physics, psychology, 
sociology, and the other sciences are all harnessed together 
in the attempt to show the student that each has its specific 
contribution to make to the satisfaction of human needs and 
the realization of human ideals. Such a course presents 
great difficulty in organization; it implies a wide range of 
interest in the instructor or instructors responsible; it 
necessitates the overthrow of the professional prejudice 
that prohibits an instructor from giving any information 
except in that field in which he is a specialist; particularly it 
means the breaking down of narrow academic barriers. 
In the selection and statement of the problems, and in the 
collection of materials for such a course, whole-hearted 


FUNCTION OF THE COLLEGE 497 


codperation among the departments is demanded. The 
peculiar objective of this enterprise makes it desirable that 
the various fields of knowledge shall not be taught by sepa- 
rate individuals; the course must have a unity which can 
only be obtained by making a single instructor, of wide and 
humane training, responsible for its entire conduct. Intro- 
duce a series of specialists into the teaching corps, and the 
unity for which the course is working automatically dis- 
appears. That such a proposal is not a dream, but a fea- 
sible plan capable of much good, is proved by the experiment 
which Columbia and other institutions have already made. 
Growing out of an emergency course in “‘ War Aims” a 
course for freshmen in “‘Contemporary Civilization,” oc- 
cupying five hours throughout the week during the whole 
year, has been jointly organized by the various depart- 
ments. Initiated by the department of philosophy in co- 
operation with other departments and taught by a group 
of instructors, each one of whom is responsible for its whole 
range, this course and its general management have been 
found to be practicable. While the outcome of such an am- 
bitious program cannot as yet be evaluated, and while its 
academic lineage is all too apparent, this initial experiment 
indicates that a permanent contribution has been made to 
the curriculum of the college. In spite of initial early oppo- 
sition the course has won its way and is now welcomed by 
most of the departments. Experience shows that it makes 
more significant and more rapid the later instruction in the 
relatively specialized fields. 

Is a synthetic course desirable at the close of the college 
period? Whether a course of this kind should be given 
only as an introduction is a point of debate. There is a con- 
siderable amount of evidence in favor of introducing in the 
senior year another unifying course which would correlate 
the common fields of knowledge traversed during the college 


498 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


training. In the college of liberal arts, as we have pro- 
jected it, relieved from the burden of narrow professional 
training, these common fields will be of considerable area. 
With an initial course introducing the student to the prob- 
lems of civilization, and with a more comprehensive final 
course which once more makes evident the unity of knowl- 
edge, the college will have freed itself from much of the 
criticism to which it is now rightly subject. 

Why must the college stress social responsibility? 
Our position being clear as to the main function of college 
education, we may now turn to discuss, briefly, some further 
changes which are necessary if the college is to render a 
fuller service to its students and to society. Attention has 
already been directed to the necessity of more rigorous 
selection of the student body; the college has no room for 
those who lack the capacity or the inclination for its 
strenuous discipline. College education should be a re- 
ward of past promise and an earnest of future useful- 
ness. At every turn the social. obligation which the ad- 
vantages of a college education impose must be stressed: 
too often have we preached the monetary value of a college 
education; too widely have we bred the conviction that the 
training is advantageous because it enables the individual to 
get ahead; too insidiously have we spread the doctrine that 
the college opens up avenues to the exploitation of less 
capable men. Higher education involves higher responsi- 
bility and nobler cares; this cardinal truth must be impressed 
upon every recipient of its advantages. In season and out 
of season, social service, and not individual advancement, 
must be made the motif of college training. High standing 
in pre-college work, seriousness of purpose, and feeling of 
social responsibility must be the requirements ! for entrance 


1 Since any entrance requirement or retention requirement stressing 
social purpose will be extremely difficult to define, the necessity of making 
the social appeal during the college course is the more urgent. 


FUNCTION OF THE COLLEGE 499 


to the higher institution. For the want of a certain arbi- 
trary number of units in certain arbitrary academic sub- 
jects, the college cannot afford to debar individuals of first- 
rate capacity. In view of the changing conceptions of edu- 
cation, the gates that guard the college must be high and, 
at the same time wide; high in that they must demand 
sterling qualities of mind and heart, wide, lest they shut 
the gates of service on youth of talent. 

How must the student body be differentiated for instruc- 
tional purposes? But, even if we assume that higher and 
broader standards of entrance are established, the student 
body will still be sufficiently heterogeneous to demand con- 
siderable differentiation of teaching procedure. In the 
interest of high achievement, especially of the better stu- 
dents, a ““ pass and honors system ”’ of student classification 
must be established. Of the pass student, work of a thor- 
ough order will be required; but to the few who early in 
their school and college course show great superiority of 
intellectual reach and interest, greater stimulation and wider 
facilities must be given. ‘This small group must be favored 
above the rest of the student body by being given more 
instructional care. ‘This instruction must be adapted to 
the interests of the group and to the rapid rate at which 
learning can proceed. Furthermore, the better students 
must increasingly be relieved from the obligation of class 
attendance; they must be allowed to form early in their 
academic life the habits of independent study. With this 
in view, examinations must be given in definite fields in 
which no courses are given. The abler students must learn 
to master extensive bodies of information without con- 
tinual routine and ridiculous motivation by minor tests 
and quizzes. While this freedom from lectures, recita- 
tions and quizzes will particularly mark the work of the 
honor students, the pass students must be given more lib- 


500 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


erty than the present college student enjoys. The tragi- 
comic course system, with its elaborate book-keeping, with 
its mysterious credits, with its emphasis on minimum rather 
than maximum attainments, needs radical modification. As 
a system it is not conducive to high thinking. Students 
must graduate, not because as docile hearers and learners 
they have amassed a certain number of credits, but because 
they have learned certain procedures and exhibited mastery 
in certain fields of knowledge. 

Does the present college foster intellectual achievement? 
The college must not schoolmaster its pupils, for in so doing 
it fails to create the habits of self-education upon which 
the individual must rely after the college period. All 
students, whether pass or honors, must be given more 
searching examinations; the course system with its minor 
tests, which are mere licenses to forget, must be replaced 
by more comprehensive schemes of study and examination. 
At the end of the college course each student must be 
responsible not only for the correlating course which is 
given in the last year, but also for an examination which 
covers the major portion of the work of the last two years. 
Only the student that is capable of passing such a formal 
examination should be awarded a four-year college degree. 
This comprehensive examination would create an incentive 
for more thorough and more permanent learning. The 
college must employ all the measures that are available for 
stimulating the student to greater intellectual effort. The 
American college can rightly be criticized because of its 
failure to produce within its own precincts a meet and 
proper respect for high intellectual achievement. A reason- 
‘able leaven which regards intellectual pursuits and intel- 
lectual attainments as of great worth is a mark of an ad- 
vanced civilization. Can we expect such a leaven to exist 
in society when in the very seats of learning no adequate 


FUNCTION OF THE COLLEGE 501 


leavening force is at work? ‘This point can be made clearer 
by contrasting the intellectual with other phases of college 
activity. 

On the athletic side the college has set up certain objec- 
tives which by social pressure have been made to appear 
of great worth. Men will strive for years previous to their 
entrance into college, will train strenuously for long periods 
during their college course, to attain distinctions of this 
kind — often empty baubles. Is it not possible to set up 
equally respected and equally difficult academic objectives, 
which for their attainment would demand exceptional 
native ability, long training, and intellectual stamina? 
Surely an institution primarily created to impart learning 
and to foster the intellectual life can by its general atmos- 
phere make these objectives so individually and socially 
desirable that competition in their attainment might be at 
least a faint shadow of the competition for the prizes in 
athletics. The very fact that such a large bulk of the think- 
ing population considers the qualities developed by ath- 
letics and extra-curricula activities to be of such great worth 
as compared with those derived from learning, gives further 
proof of how low the intellectual fires are burning. Intel- 
lectual leadership of the right kind must work strenuously 
among the alumni and in the student body to bring about 
these necessary changes in emphasis. 

What can the college do to foster intellectual achieve- 
ment? What is needed are intellectual objectives which 
shall be as definite and as tangible as those erected in the 
athletic and financial realms of college activity. This is 
the machinery for the solution of the present problem. The 
supreme task of the college and university will, however, 
be in breathing into these objectives the breath of life. 
In an academic community, strange though it may seem, 
academic attainment must be a goal which naturally chal- 


502 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


lenges the greatest effort. For it, the intellectually minded 
must scorn other delights and live laborious days. If the 
teaching body of a college cannot set up these standards and 
at the same time create the spirit which will make them 
coveted, is not this a sure proof that this body, whatever 
its other merits, is not fit to assume leadership in an insti- 
tution whose primary aim is intellectual? 

Some may urge that intellectual attainment is its own 
reward, and that the external incentives of social commen- 
dation are pernicious. ‘The same argument may be applied 
to athletics. Bodily exercise, in even greater degree, car- 
ries its own reward; yet, great achievement in sport is 
only produced by close competition and by continuous 
external incentives. It would be academic in the last de- 
gree to argue that intellectual and moral work of the most 
refined order will not always be motivated by the commen- 
dation and plaudits of the group. Not that the higher 
motive must be lost, but rather that it must be supple- 
mented by the powerful social motive. 

How must the college redirect the extra-curriculum ac- 
tivities? In considering the total work done by the college, 
we must study the activities outside of the classroom proper 
to see the nature and the extent of the contribution which 
they are capable of making to the student life. As a cynic 
has pointed out, “ student activities ” of the college never 
refer to the activities of studying! The assumption would 
imply that the student is merely passive in his intellectual 
experiences. The extra-curriculum interests of the college 
student have rapidly come to be regarded as of first-rate 
educational importance; by many they are considered 
of higher value than the intellectual discipline of the library 
and the classroom. ‘The reason for this anomalous state 
is not far to seek. ‘They call forth in the student a greater 
degree of effort, and demand the exercise of certain social 


FUNCTION OF THE COLLEGE 503 


traits of immense importance in the wider relations of life. 
The solution of the problem, raised by the undue promi- 
nence which parents and students give to these activities, 
is not to be found in their elimination but rather in their 
skillful redirection and also their application to the intel- 
lectual activities of the institution. With a more intellec- 
tually minded student body, with a common outlook fur- 
nished by the interrelating courses at the beginning and end 
of the college course, with the freedom from lectures and 
courses afforded an increasing proportion of the students, 
place must be found for more work of an informal discus- 
sional order. Since intellectual interest is “ caught rather 
than taught,” students in small groups, with and without 
their tutors, must be encouraged to discuss intellectual 
matters. The Oxford and Cambridge tutorial system,! with 
‘its emphasis upon the social aspect of learning, might well 
be incorporated in a modified form into our own college 
procedure. If this were done, there is every reason to sup- 
pose that a good deal of the energy which is now directed 
into relatively unprofitable channels might be used for the 
purpose of socializing the student and advancing the in- 
tellectual aims of the institution. 

Why does the Great Society presuppose disinterested 
intellectual leadership? In closing this discussion we must 
once more call attention to the peculiar service of the college 
in the educational economy. Since it furnishes the pre- 
professional training of the best minds of each generation, 
the major function of the college is to equip for leadership. 
In our own day this service becomes of paramount impor- 
tance. If in the other sections of our discussion our enthusi- 


1Such a system does not seem to harmonize with the mass-production 
methods which the college has borrowed from industry. But this only 
raises the more fundamental question as to whether the mass-production 
method does not defeat its own purpose — namely, the encouragement of 
thinking in society. 


504 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


asm and faith in education have led us to overestimate the 
extent to which knowledge of personal, community, and 
public affairs can be imparted to the ordinary citizen, here 
is the opportunity of correcting our reading. As the issues 
of life become more complex, as the body of social doctrine 
expands, the competence of the ordinary citizen to pass 
upon the problems of his life in society correspondingly 
diminishes. Even a superficial examination of man’s 
present condition reveals a fact which is most disconcerting 
to the naive theory of democratic control. Only the simple 
problem can be solved by the simple mind. All the other 
problems of our group life can be grasped only by superior 
minds and then only by superior minds placed in an ad- 
vantageous position where they can command an unpreju- 
diced and comprehensive view of the facts involved. 

How does the Great Society overtax the intellectual 
powers of the ordinary citizen? Our closely knit codpera- 
tive society is not so simple that the man of mediocre 
intelligence, by turning his attention momentarily to great 
issues, can by a God-given intuition make great decisions. 
The solution of the more complex problems must perforce 
be delegated to the more complex minds of each generation; 
and it is the training of these superior minds which fur- 
nishes the most important opportunity for the college. 
Here must be assiduously cultivated those intellectual and 
moral virtues which as Plato so clearly argued should be 
the necessary concomitants of concern with the major issues. 
The college group contains within itself that small portion 
of the population to which the people must with confidence 
be able to turn for help in problems which their own ability 
and information are impotent to solve. The activity of the 
ordinary citizen can only be helpful in the major issues as 
education furnishes him with sufficient knowledge and 
warnings so that he can recognize able and disinterested 


FUNCTION OF THE COLLEGE 505 


leadership and give it the support without which it is power- 
less to achieve. 

The easy belief that the growth in effectiveness of our 
educational agencies can equip the ordinary well-meaning 
citizen to discharge with insight and knowledge the intricate 
tasks of codperative living, is a false reading of human 
nature and involves a failure to appreciate the intricacy of 
modern society. As an educational and social philosophy it 
can only lead to disastrous consequences. All but the 
simplest type of society must rely on leaders, and an edu- 
cational system that does not make the maximum provision 
for their training is guilty of a criminal shallowness. 7 
_ What is the function of the college? Only as the liberal 
arts college devotes the major part of its energies to the 
training of superior minds can it expect to send out into 
society men and women, who through later specialization 
can be relied upon to meet the crises of social existence. 
By giving a limited amount of specialized training which 
has a vocational bearing, by providing the student with 
the social experiences which foster codperative living, and 
above all and in all by furnishing the student with the 
larger understanding of and the deeper sympathy with his 
fellow-men, the college can perform an unique service to 
the individual, and, through his leadership, to the com- 
munity and the Great Society which comprises the world. 
In this way, and in this way alone, can the gifted individual 
make return to the common citizen through whose labors 
and deprivations he has been afforded the leisure and secu- 
rity necessary for advanced education. ‘For unto whomso- 
ever much is given, of him shall be much required; and to 
whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the 
more.” 


506 


10. 


11. 


12. 


PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


. What may be said for and against the present proposal that admission 


to college be dependent almost exclusively upon a high level of intelli- 
gence and facility in the vernacular? 


. What is the social justification of freeing an individual from the bur- 


dens of economic production during the four years covering the college 
period? 


. What influence has the growth of secondary education in the last half 


century,.coupled with an uncritical attitude toward the function of 
the college, had upon the modification of the college of liberal arts? 


. In an extremely wealthy society, what educational devices should be 


set up in order to justify the extension of formal education to twenty- 
one years of age for the whole population? 


. What present conditions suggest the advisability of allowing a con- 


siderable number of our present college students to leave the liberal 
college at the end of the first, second, or third year, to enter a vocation 
or to receive training specifically vocational in its aim? What rela- 
tion has this necessity to the growth of the junior college? 


. How does co-education facilitate and hamper the realization of the 


purpose of the liberal college? 


. How has the absorbing interest in research, on the part of the more 


gifted members of the faculty, led to the neglect of the educational 
function of the college? 


. How do you explain the fact that a college student can take half a 


dozen science courses without gaining any adequate knowledge of 
scientific method, or an appreciation of the place of science in the 
modern world? 


. In view of the relatively large amount of time that has to be devoted 


to an adequate mastery of foreign tongues under present conditions, 
and in view of the accessibility of translations, the increase of culture 
content, and the short period of formal instruction, criticize the 
contention that for the ordinary student the aims of a college course 
can be most economically achieved through an acquaintance with the 
English language alone? 

In view of the aim of the college advocated in this discussion, what 
attitude would you take up toward the marked decline in the study of 
philosophy in the college? 

To what extent is the cost of higher education in America inflated by 
the tendencies toward wasteful and extravagant expenditures in its 
social life? 

Discuss the following motives for going to college: (1) vocational suc- 
cess, (2) intellectual interest, (3) social prestige, (4) interest in ath- 
letics, (5) interest in social life of the college, (6) desire to render a 
larger public service, (7) an unwillingness to make a vocational choice, 


13. 


14. 


15. 


16. 


17. 


18. 


19. 


20. 


FUNCTION OF THE COLLEGE 507 


(8) a desire to loaf, (9) compulsion of parents, (10) a desire to enter 
remunerative but easy callings. 

In an industrialized society, what are the difficulties of developing, 
even in a highly selected proportion of the population, an interest in 
intellectual pursuits? 

What are the dangers in the current tendency of operating the college 
on the principle of mass production and in accordance with stereo- 
types evolved in the industrial field? 

Show how an uncritical pan-sophism, or the tendency toward an en- 
cyclopedic type of education, still dominates the philosophy which 
lies back of the elective system? 

In accordance with the liberalizing function of the college, if you had 
your period of college training to take over again, what subjects 
(courses) would you eliminate and what would you substitute? 

How do you account for the relative absence of intellectual interests 
in the social life outside the classroom on the part of both students 
and faculty in the American college? 

What forces resident in society, faculty, and the student body would 
hamper the realization of the aims of the college as set forth in these 
pages? 

In what respects should the content of instruction employed in the 
colleges of a democratic society differ from that used in the colleges of 
an aristocratic social order? 

How can society insure that all intellectual talent, in whatever 
stratum of society it appears, will be developed and made available 
for the common good? What advantages will accrue to a particular 
college from appropriations which will enable it to provide scholarships, 
covering all expenses and tuition, to the best intellectual talent dis- 
coverable in the secondary schools of the country? Compare in social 
value and significance such a use of the resources of the state or of 
wealthy donors with the common practice, to-day, of erecting monu- 
mental and ornamental buildings. 


PROBLEM 22 


WHAT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE SCHOOL 
FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION? 


What is the contribution of occupational life to general education? — Is 
there any question concerning the necessity of vocational training? — 
What are the various types of vocational training? — How has occupational 
differentiation complicated the probler of vocational education? — What 
are the conventional divisions of formal vocational education? — Why isa 
classification on occupational levels more useful? — In what divisions of the 
school system do the various levels of training fall? — Why has the scope of 
professional training increased in modern society? — What general educa- 
tion is prerequisite to professional specialization? — What are the issues in- 
volved in pre-professional and professional education? — What is the ree 
sponsibility of the school for training at the lower occupational levels? — 
What contribution can the elementary school make to industrial training? 
— How has specialization in industry affected the problem of vocational 
training? — How has this specialization affected the higher and lower levels 
of training? — Should the school undertake training at the lower levels? — 
What are the administrative difficulties of introducing industrial training? 
— To what extent should vocational training be provided through part- 
time education? — What warnings must be given in the field of industrial 
education? — How has the changed economic status of woman affected her 
vocational training? — Why must vocational education disregard the 
traditional concept of woman’s sphere? — What determines the nature of 
a vocational curriculum? — Why is occupational analysis so difficult? — 
How can the spirit of service be injected into the occupational life? 


What is the contribution of occupational life to general 
education? ‘The richness in social content of the wider in- 
dustrial and economic activities has been emphasized in 
Part Three. ‘To evaluate or understand the meaning of 
modern life, acquaintance with the means whereby men gain 
their livelihood and an understanding of the interrelation- 
ships of the economic order are essential. General educa- 
tion, if it is to be significant to the pupil in the later adoles- 
cent years, must make the maximum use of this material. 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 509 


Especially is this true for those pupils whose intellectual 
equipment is meager and who will therefore find their place 
in the intellectually less exacting levels of the industrial and 
commercial system. ‘To enable the individual to under- 
stand a little more clearly the principles upon which the 
production and exchange of goods depend, to show the 
tyrannies of capital and the shortcomings of labor, to show 
the conflict of interest between the entrepreneur, the worker, 
and the consumer, to show the supreme importance of the 
conservation of natural resources, to show extravagance 
here and niggardliness there, to establish a better concep- 
tion of the interdependence of groups, to create a bond of 
sympathy among all who render service and to foster higher 
social ideals for workers and consumers of all levels — 
these for every boy and girl must be among the important 
aims of general education. ‘To realize these aims, the so- 
cial and economic facts of our industrial and commercial 
life must be marshaled, and given the high place which as 
culture material they deserve. Not to use the occupa- 
tional life of the community as a background for much of 
cultural education is shortsighted in the last degree, and 
must be traced to the divorce of work and culture in the 
older and aristocratic societies. 

What is meant by vocation? While centering around the 
vocational life, this aspect of general education must not be 
confounded with vocational education proper. For clear- 
ness of thinking, rather than for separation in practice, 
general or liberal education must be differentiated from 
education for specific callings. General education is con- 
cerned with the bodies of knowledge, the special skills and 
attitudes which, irrespective of the particular occupation 
followed, are requisite for successful living: whereas vo- 
cational education is concerned with those special bodies 
of knowledge, those special skills and attitudes which are 


510 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


requisite for successful participation in specific occupa- 
tions. In spite of the rhetorical appeal of the argument 
that the largest vocation of any human is to live, to use 
“vocation” in this sense in an educational treatise is an 
abuse of terms. The word vocation must be restricted to 
that integrated body of particular activities which an in- 
dividual follows when engaged in his major, economically 
productive, specialty. With this limitation of the term, 
vocational education must be regarded as a specific train- 
ing for the specialized activities of a particular calling. 

Is there any question concerning the necessity of voca- 
tional training? The acquisition of vocational skill and in- 
formation is the necessary concomitant of the life process 
however primitive; the performance of the necessary tasks in 
the simplest order of existence leaves behind it specific skills 
and it precipitates more or less organized bodies of informa- 
tion. Without the results of such experience, the basis 
could never have been laid for the development of voca- 
tional life. As through the efforts of these primitive trades- 
men, especially the more gifted, there evolved a vocational 
culture, the need for its transmission became urgent. Other 
things being equal, so basic is the vocational economy, 
those groups which made provision for the economical 
transmission, to the younger generation, of vocational dex- 
terity must have been favored in the struggle for survival. 
Only in this way was it possible for all members of the group 
to benefit directly from the accumulated inheritance of the 
past. The skill and knowledge derived by the more gifted 
and experienced of the group were thus made available for 
individuals whose capacity and experience never would have 
permitted them to make the discoveries for themselves. 
Even for the gifted, the process economized their energies 
and enabled them to turn their powers to the advancement 
of culture. ‘Thus in the field of vocation, as in other fields, 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 511 


each generation could build on the labors of the past. That 
for every member of society vocational training 1s absolutely 
essential is patent, but there remains the fundamental 
educational problem: To what extent shall the formal 
agency assume, for any particular occupation, responsibility 
for the training? The ease with which this question can be 
answered varies greatly with the level of the vocation. With 
an unskilled occupation, such as road sweeping, the school 
need have no concern; but, for a calling such as medicine, the 
formal agency must give prolonged and intensive training. 

What are the various types of vocational training? Voca- 
tional training may be provided in various ways. Of these 
methods the following may be noted: 

(1) Incidental training. All skills and knowledges ac- 
quired incidentally by following the occupation. (Team- 
ster.) 

(2) Apprenticeship. All skills and knowledges acquired 
through more or less supervised contacts with skilled work- 
men in which theoretical training is not stressed. (Locomo- 
tive engineer.) : 

(3) Part-time education. Special skills and knowledges 
acquired within the occupation but supplemented by si- 
multaneous theoretical training provided either by the in- 
dustry or by the public school. (Tool-maker.) 

(4) Continuation education. Special skills and knowl- 
edges acquired within the occupation but supplemented by 
later theoretical training. (Agriculturist.) 

(5) Academic vocational training. Basic theoretical train- 
ing given in the school but the special occupational 
skills and knowledges acquired later in the occupation. 
(Lawyer.) : 

(6) Complete formal training. Basic theoretical and spe- 
cific practical training given in the school so organized as 
to afford both. (Physician.) 


512 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


What sociological conditions determine the type of train- 
ing provided? ‘The point for the reader to observe is that 
regardless of the method employed vocational training 
proceeds. The education may be purely of the informal 
order acquired by the fisher-boy who, by going out with the 
boats, “picks up” the numerous skills of the job, and the de- 
tailed information of seasons, tides, places and weather in- 
dications; or, at the other extreme, it may be of the most 
formal order such as that provided within a professional 
school. Only as the third, fourth, fifth, or sixth method, 
listed above, is employed does the school — the formal 
agency — undertake vocational education. The point of 
dispute is not with reference to the necessity of vocational 
training; rather it centers around the conditions under 
which such training shall be acquired. How can society 
distribute the burden of vocational education so that the. 
interests of the individual and the group are given the 
maximum consideration? ‘The problems of vocational ed- 
ucation, especially industrial education, cannot be solved 
merely by a study of vocational activities; this entire ques- 
tion is linked up with a theory of values, and a wide philos- 
ophy of life. It must be considered from various angles: 
and at different levels of occupational complexity. Obvi- 
ously the mode of vocational education depends greatly on 
the nature of the occupation, the demand for workers, the 
training facilities of the occupation, and the procedures, 
equipment and objectives of the formal school. 

How has occupational differentiation complicated the 
problem of vocational education? Before discussing these 
basic questions, we shall do well to enquire into the forces 
which have brought into existence a world of intense occupa- 
tional specialization. Even in primitive society there are 
well-marked subdivisions of labor. Differences in sex, age, 
and environmental setting all tend to make advantageous 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 513 


some apportionment of the necessary work of the group. 
As society has evolved, as the demands of men have multi- 
plied, as the body of lore, knowledge and skills has constantly 
grown, as intercommunication and interdependence have in- 
creased, as machinery has brought in its train a revolution 
in the methods of industrial production, the occupational 
life has become differentiated to an extreme degree. So 
rapidly has this development proceeded in the last century 
and a half that a degree of occupational complexity has been 
attained of which the early settlers were totally unaware 
and of which our grandparents hardly dreamed. ‘To gain 
an adequate conception of the almost unbelievable variety 
of occupations that are now followed by the American 
people one has only to glance at the Occupational Classifica- 
tion compiled in the United States Census. Here will be 
found a list of thousands of occupations in which is dis- 
tributed the total population gainfully employed. Through 
either formal or informal education the individual members 
of the oncoming generation must be guided into this vast 
array of callings and be furnished with the training adequate 
for their different tasks. Only as the reader grasps the 
astounding number of these differentiated occupations can 
he realize the scope of the undertaking or appreciate the 
problems which have to be faced in inaugurating and main- 
taining a program of vocational training. 

What are the conventional divisions of formal vocational 
education? In educational writings the following divisions 
of vocational training are commonly recognized: (1) profes- 
sional and higher technical education; (2) commercial edu- 
cation; (3) industrial education; (4) agricultural education; 
(5) home-making education. Such a classification merely 
follows the lines of the unanalyzed growth of our educa- 
tional agencies; however convenient it may be for purposes 
of educational administration a division along these lines is 


514 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


not the most helpful for gaining the wider view of the prob- 
lem which is necessary in grasping the principles of vocational 
training. It calls attention to the various fields of voca- 
tional endeavor and not to the various levels of vocational 
activity. Within each of these divisions, in modern society, 
all grades of occupational training are demanded. ‘To 
separate professional and higher technical education from 
commercial and industrial education is to do violence to the 
ordinary meaning of the terms industry and commerce. 
This will be made clear by reference to the work of any 
large industry. Here the following occupational divisions 
or levels may, at once, be recognized: (a) managerial; (b) 
technical and professional; (c) commercial; (d) clerical; (e) 
skilled artisan; (f) machine operative; (g) unskilled laborer. 
Thus within a single industry are found all the occupational 
levels from that of the highly trained engineer to the un- 
skilled hand. Similarly within the agricultural field, the 
whole gamut is covered from the research chemist to the 
farm laborer. 

Why is a classification on occupational levels more useful? 
On this account a classification based on the different 
training levels will be much more significant for the purpose 
of this discussion than the one given above which directs 
attention to the various departments of occupational life. 
Taussig’s well-known classification recognizes five such 
training levels: (1) professional occupations; (2) semi- 
professional occupations; (3) skilled occupations; (4) 
semi-skilled occupations; (5) unskilled occupations. These 
divisions are, of course, not clearly defined. There are 
imperceptible gradings within the professional group. As 
knowledge increases occupations evolve from a _ semi- 
professional to a professional level and as mechanical inven- 
tion replaces the need for knowledge and skill, an occupa- 
tion may regress to a lower level. Consequently the precise 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 515 


nature of the difference between the lower forms of semi- 
professional work and the higher forms of skilled labor is 
always uncertain and difficult to define. The distinction 
between skilled and semi-skilled is equally vague, and the 
difference between the lower form of semi-skilled work and 
the less simple of the so-called unskilled occupations is im- 
possible to make definite. However, in spite of these prac- 
tical objections, the fivefold classification is useful in that it 
calls attention to the gradual increase in occupational com- 
plexity. At one extreme are the many occupations which 
require almost no specialized abilities not possessed by any 
individual who has had the ordinary experiences of life or 
qualifications which the occupation is powerless to produce. 
At a slightly higher level are occupations requiring ele- 
mentary and isolated skills which can be learned in com- 
paratively short periods of training on the job itself. At an 
intermediate level are occupations which may demand long 
periods of manual training .and some acquaintance with 
science, mathematics and technical subjects. At a higher 
level are occupations where the intellectual elements are 
more pronounced; here the transition to the semi-profes- 
sional and professional occupations takes place. In these 
callings, especially the latter, the content of the training is 
predominantly intellectual and the procedure scientific. 

In what divisions of the school system do the various 
levels of training fali? The changing conditions of our voca- 
tional life preclude the possibility of giving any definite and 
final denotation to the terms professional, semi-professional, 
skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled. But assuming reason- 
able agreement and taking our point of departure from the 
existing social order we may note that professional training 
of the higher type is the function, to a small degree, of the 
senior college, but primarily of the university in which are 
congregated the various higher professional schools. Pro- 


516 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


fessional training of a lower order and semi-professional 
training are part of the function of the junior college, but the 
major portion of such training must be provided in the 
lower professional schools such as those for nursing, den- 
tistry, home economics, journalism, business administra- 
tion, salesmanship, etc. The distinction between these 
higher and lower professional schools, between, for example, 
the school for nurses and the first-rate medical school, is to 
be found in the prerequisites for admission, and the dura- 
tion and rigor of the instruction. Training for skilled and 
semi-skilled occupations, in so far as it is undertaken by 
the formal agency, will fall at the secondary school level. 

What are the more urgent problems of vocational educa- 
tion? Following this general introduction, we shall now 
content ourselves with a few comments on some of the edu- 
cational issues involved in professional and semi-profes- 
sional training. We shall, however, reserve most of our 
time for a consideration of the point of maximum dispute in 
vocational education, the dispute that centers around the 
wisdom and feasibility of giving within the school direct 
training for the skilled manual occupations of industry. 
Having examined these aspects of vocational training, we 
shall, in closing, consider the following problems: (a) the 
vocational training of women; (b) curriculum construction 
through occupational analysis; (c) social orientation of the 
worker. 

Why has the scope of professional training increased in 
modern society? Professional training is but one form of 
vocational training. In many circles, by restricting the last 
term “vocational”? to those employments which do not 
demand prolonged theoretical training and which, conse- 
quently, under ordinary conditions, are not given the social 
recognition accorded to the professions, professional has 
often been contrasted with vocational education. But no 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION «B17 


useful purpose is served by such differentiation; vocational 
education is all-inclusive, professional training is but one 
branch of the total field. Owing to the growth of modern 
science and the development of our involved social and 
economic life, there have appeared a wide variety of callings 
requiring long and sustained training which fall outside the 
older liberal professions of the ministry, teaching, medicine 
and law. On this account, the conventional limits of the 
term “profession”? cannot be maintained, for any social 
activity which demands prolonged educational preparation 
of a theoretical nature must be regarded as professional. 
‘Training for these callings, as rapidly as they develop in the 
social order, must be given in the so-called graduate and 
professional schools. Law, medicine, engineering, theology, 
agriculture, dentistry, journalism, forestry, teaching, diplo- 
macy, military science, already have their own disciplines 
sufficiently specialized to justify separate institutions. 
What general education is prerequisite to professional 
specialization? The general tendency of the professional 
school is to base its special training on a rigid course of gen- 
eral education, provided in the non-vocational school. The 
better schools of law and medicine are calling for the com- 
pletion of the four-year college training as a condition of 
entrance. With this general education as a background, 
the professional school can direct its energies almost exclu- 
sively to the task of specific occupational training. Where, 
however, the professional school, as is often the case in 
engineering, demands for entrance no training beyond that 
of the secondary school, the usual procedure is to give 
simultaneously the general and the specialized vocational 
training. Where graduation from college is required for 
entrance into a professional school, the student, as a rule, 
will have received some prevocational training through the 
college. ‘Through the selection of certain studies from the 


518 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


academic college course he is usually enabled to shorten his 
later professional training. As we have pointed out in our 
discussion of college education, such selection upon the basis 
of future occupation may become so narrow as'to imperil 
the liberalizing function of the college; in fact, at the present 
time, a distinct tendency exists to make the college more and 
more a prevocational, if not a directly vocational, school. 
While there is no doubt that the college can make a sub- 
stantial contribution towards preparation for the more exact- 
ing professions, this work should be incidental to its main 
task of providing a sound general education. When the 
subjects demanded by the profession are of such limited 
significance as to narrow the general education, the proper 
place for such subjects is in the professional school itself. 
To shorten the general college course for many students and 
thereby to keep its aim separate from the limited vocational 
objective is better than to convert the college, for the major- 
ity of its clientele, into a place of vocational training. This 
question has already been discussed at length in our consid- 
eration of the function of the college. The extent of the 
general and pre-professional education required before 
professional specialization raises a problem which demands 
careful investigation. 

What are the issues involved in pre-professional and 
professional education? This study must take into account 
all the educational and sociological factors involved. While 
superficial analysis would tend to show the desirability of 
insisting on a maximum period of general and professional 
education, further analysis reveals many difficulties. In 
studying this problem three questions arise: — If very 
prolonged academic training is required for entrance to the 
professional school, will persons enter in sufficient numbers, 
and, when trained, will they render their service to society at 
a cost which is not prohibitive? Is it feasible to expect the 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 519 


ordinary pre-professional student to pursue a four-year 
college course of which the aim is avowedly liberal and not 
vocational? Can the college hold the interest and enlist the 
effort of such individuals over this long period? 

In addition to these questions regarding entrance a 
further question of great professional and sociological im- 
portance is suggested: Should there be professional courses 
of varying periods of duration rather than a single stereo- 
typed course for all desiring to enter the profession? 

How may the wider social interests be guarded in pro- 
fessional training? A frank recognition and discussion of 
these problems would result in marked changes in the jun- 
ior college, senior college, professional and semi-professional 
schools. If the semi-professional and professional occupa- 
tions are to be adequately manned, and if the professional 
service is to be procurable at a reasonable rate, the general 
educational prerequisites of some of the professional schools 
must be lowered. Many who desire to enter these occupa- 
tions and who are capable of rendering valuable service 
within them, have not sufficient intellectual curiosity to 
motivate the close application which two, three, or four 
years of effective work in the general college course de- 
mand. Furthermore, the use of the college degree as a 
method of ensuring a highly selected student body for the 
professional school is archaic. By school records, personal 
ratings, psychological and educational tests, intellectual 
ability can be gauged much better than by the completion 
of the arbitrary requirements of a stipulated number of 
years at college. Three facts which bear upon this ques- 
tion must be recognized: firstly, many of our present college 
students, since they need a type of education in the lower 
professional schools which is distinctly related to future 
occupation, benefit but little from a general education; 
secondly, admission to our higher professional schools 


520 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


should be provided for those individuals who are capable of 
rendering certain distinct services in the occupation but 
who are not adapted to the protracted pursuit of general 
education; thirdly, the graded demands of life situations on 
the professions would suggest that in the professional 
schools courses of different lengths be given, depending on 
the ability and future objective of the student. For ex- 
ample, the assumption that all nurses should be submitted 
to a training course of just four years is, on the surface, ab- 
surd. The needs of society demand the services of nurses 
having one year, two years, three years, four years or more 
of training. Ifa certain level of attainment is the objective, 
then individuals of different capacity need different periods 
of training. It is not too much to say that in some instances 
professional and semi-professional education reflect a nar- 
rowness of conception of function and a limitation of social 
vision that would be out of place in the organization of a 
trade union. ‘The motive back of the prolonged training is 
often that of monopolizing the service and artificially raising 
the remuneration of the members of the profession. Tradi- 
tion and pious aspiration must be left behind and the whole 
question be subjected to analysis in the light of individual 
needs and social demands. 

What is the responsibility of the school for training at the 
lower occupational levels? Leaving professional and semi- 
professional training, we may now pass on to consider the 
problems which arise at the lower levels of vocational educa- 
tion. Since, as we have already suggested, the school can 
be expected to make no direct contribution to the acquisi- 
tion of those simple skills and knowledges required in the 
semi-skilled and unskilled occupations, the sole remaining 
problem has to do with the skilled trades and the various 
callings of this level. In the fields of commerce, industry, 
agriculture and home-making there are numerous occupa- 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 521 


tions of this degree of complexity. In an adequate discus- 
sion each of these divisions should be given separate treat- 
ment, but in the short space at our disposal we shall be com- 
pelled to restrict our attention to the problem of training 
for the skilled occupations in the field of the manufacturing 
and mechanical industries. In this field the problem pre- 
sents the greatest difficulty. By common usage, industrial 
training has come to be applied exclusively to that voca- 
tional education which aims to train the manual worker in 
the manufacturing and mechanical industries.! Its object 
is to prepare for the skilled trades. Training for the semi- 
skilled occupations, which are legion in modern society, can 
be given more effectively and more directly in the factories 
than in the school. Industrial education, as the term is 
used here, falls in the secondary field, beyond the elementary 
school and below the college. 

What contribution can the elementary school make to 
industrial training? ‘The only contribution which elemen- 
tary education may make in this field falls under the some- 
what general and vague category of manual training. The 
aim of this subject-matter is not the acquisition of commer- 
cial skills and knowledges, but rather an appreciation and 
understanding of the nature and significance of the manual 
occupations. Industrial training, in our belief, has no proper 
place in the elementary school. As the Cleveland Survey 
‘points out: “The most important contribution to voca- 
tional education the elementary schools can make consists 
in getting the children through the course fast enough so 
that two or three years before the end of the compulsory 
attendance period they may, tf desirable,? enter a vocational 
school where some kind of industrial training is possible.” 
1 This is, in one sense, a mistaken usage, for industry in modern society 


calls for all levels of occupational training. 
2 These words inserted in place of “ will’? in the survey report. 


522 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


How has specialization in industry affected the problem 
of vocational training? The need for such industrial train- 
ing can be traced fo at least two major causes: (a) the break- 
down in the new industrial order of the old apprenticeship 
system; (b) the increase in the theoretical and technical 
knowledge required to guide industrial practice. Under the 
first cause may be noted the specialization of work, the loss 
of contact between employer and employee, and the ab- 
sence in the workman of the motive to learn anything but 
the essentials of the immediate job. All these factors tend 
to reduce to a minimum the training which the industry 
itself affords. The increase in the technical knowledge 
required for successful pursuit of the calling has made the 
training incidental to the old form of apprenticeship partici- 
pation inadequate. ‘These and other causes have led to an 
increasing demand that the school take over the task of 
training the skilled manual workers or at least supplement 
the training provided by the industries. As there is direct 
vocational training for the professions, so, it is claimed, in 
the interests of the equalization of opportunity, there must 
be direct vocational training for the lower occupations. 
While this simple justification of school training for indus- 
trial occupations makes a great appeal in a democratic 
society, it behooves education to analyze very carefully the 
vocational demands of the new industrial order before ca- 
pitulating, in any wholesale manner, to the slogan “‘ Voca- 
tional training for all.’’ Consideration will first be given to 
the changed condition of industry; and, afterwards, in the 
light of these changes, the administrative difficulties of the 
school will be studied. 

The coming of the factory system with its minute special- 
ization of labor and the opening of wider markets with its 
consequent demands for increased and cheaper production 
have banished in many trades the old order in which all men 


‘VOCATIONAL EDUCATION | 523 


possessed more or less the same skills, had the same degree 
of training, and consequently were expected to be capable 
of performing any operation of the trade. In the place of 
this homogeneity of personnel in the industry has arisen a 
degree of differentiation which in its extremes can be well 
contrasted. At one end is the designing engineer whose 
position in industry must be understood if one is to see 
clearly the changed relation of education to the ordinary 
industrial worker. In the interests of greater production, 
this technician has directed his knowledge to the construc- 
tion of machines capable of performing with great rapidity 
and with the minimum of skilled attention work which a 
generation or so ago would have required skilled artisans. 
The concentration of the higher knowledge and skill in the 
hands of the designing engineer has enabled the producer 
to dispense with trade skill in the operative. In many in- 
stances, a few hours or a few days are sufficient to “‘break 
in” or give the maximum usefulness to a “green worker.” 
The rank and file of the workers have ceased to be skilled 
artisans and have become mere “hands.” Under these con- 
ditions, and there is every sign that these conditions will 
continue to multiply, there is a vast army of industrial 
workers, who, though running marvelously intricate 
machines, are unskilled in any trade. In fact they possess 
no skill except that which is demanded by a mechanical 
obedience to the routine of the machine being operated. 
How has this specialization affected the higher and lower 
levels of training? As far as vocational education is con- 
cerned these two trends are working in opposite directions. 
The “mind”’ of the organization, the professional man, the 
technical engineer, becomes increasingly dependent on 
specialized education for the pursuit of his vocation; in- 
formal education of the apprenticeship type is totally in- 
capable of giving him the necessary scientific information or 


524 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


advanced skills. The burden of his education necessarily 
is thrown back upon the formal agencies. On the other 
hand, the mere operative, the “brawn” of the organization, 
following slavishly the movements of his machine, needs 
only the shortest period of time “on the work” to reach a 
satisfactory degree of efficiency. The regular receipt of a 
pay envelope demands regularity and reliability of a me- 
chanical sort but it calls for no trade proficiency and makes 
no demand that the worker understand the manner in which 
“his job” integrates with the work of others. To deplore 
this state of modern industry, with its consequent narrowing 
of the life of its participants, 1s easy; but unless the present 
social order is to be fundamentally changed, the reduced 
status of the worker has to be faced as one of the conditions 
of the problem. 

Should the school undertake training at the lower levels? 
In view of this minute specialization, it is obvious that a 
considerable portion of the secondary school population 
will require none of the narrow specific vocational training 
of which we are writing. Even in the case of the less simple. 
or routine occupations very strong evidence can be presented 
in favor of the proposal that vocational training be given by 
the industry and at the immediate expense of the industry. 
The industry has the latest machinery, it can work on a 
production basis, it will train only those who are to engage 
in the occupation. Why is it not the logical place in which 
to provide the training? Several objections are raised to 
this solution of the problem. First, there is the wastefulness 
of time and effort in the more or less haphazard training of 
the shop. Second, the mobility of labor prevents the em- 
ployer from training in any elaborate manner individuals 
who may leave his employ at any moment. Third, the indi- 
vidual may be sacrificed because of the narrowness of the 
training in industry. Where every procedure has to be 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 525 


justified by relatively immediate economic returns, that 
training will be provided which is most profitable to industry 
and the interests of the individual may be ignored altogether. 
In spite of these and other difficulties which could be named, 
in the opinion of the authors, the school must be extremely 
slow to accept responsibility for any type of vocational 
training which industry is in a position to give, or can be 
adapted to give. ‘The mere fact that to give this training 
interferes with the production of the plant is beside the 
point and should be of no great concern to the educator. 
The reply is obvious, let industry accept this loss of time; it 
is better for the workman to lack effectiveness for a few 
months of his long working life, than to reduce the already 
too short period of general education. 

What is the justification for the introduction of this 
training? It should be noted that wherever vocational edu- 
cation is provided, whether in the school or in the industry, 
its ultimate support must be borne by society and must be 
derived from the social income. Only when the occupation 
demands a knowledge of elementary science or mathematics, 
or a specific skill such as typewriting or shorthand which, 
under present conditions, cannot be advantageously or eco- 
nomically given within the vocation itself is there sound 
reason for the introduction of vocational training into the 
school. This, as we have already seen, is the justification 
for the higher vocational schools which lead to the profes- 
sions. Not to relieve industry of the responsibility of train- 
ing, not merely to increase initial pay in a competitive 
world, but, rather to give certain types of information and a 
facility which the individual, under present conditions, and 
with reasonable economy to society, would be unable to se- 
cure in industry, must be the major criterion for placing the 
burden of providing narrow vocational training upon the 
school. 


526 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


What are the administrative difficulties of introducing in- 
dustrial training? But, before the school can provide the 
desired training in these occupations where industrial 
facilities for adequate training are lacking, great adminis- 
trative difficulties have still to be faced. Theoretically, for 
every occupation, some form of direct training could be 
given within the school. But, as an administrative prac- 
ticability, vocational education of any level within the 
formal agency demands: 

(a) an occupation socially serviceable; 

(b) an occupation of a certain degree of complexity; 

(c) a detailed analysis of the occupational requirements; 

(d) an effective form of vocational guidance; 

(e) a sufficient number of students congregated in one 

place to justify the cost of equipment and instruction; 

(f) a high probability that those taking the training will 

enter the occupation; 

(g) an assurance that the training cannot be given, with 

greater social economy, by agencies outside the school. 

Why must occupational frequency and size of school be 
considered? ‘These conditions must be carefully weighed by 
those who imagine, because professional education is so well 
established and at the same time comparatively simple in 
its operation, that the training of skilled workers can readily 
be put on the same footing at a correspondingly lower level. 
To show one of the more formidable obstacles, we may 
quote from the Cleveland Education Survey report on 
“Wage Earning and Education.” Commenting on voca- 
tional education in the junior high school of ordinary size 
this report says: “the greatest difficulty in the way of trade 
training for specific occupations lies in the small number of 
pupils who can be expected, within the bounds of reasonable 
probability, to enter a single trade. Hand and machine 
composition, the largest of the printing trades, will serve as 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 527 | 


anexample. Ina junior high school of one thousand pupils, 
boys and girls, the number of boys who are likely to become 
compositors is about five. However, to teach this trade, 
printing equipment occupying considerable space is neces- 
sary, together with a teacher who has had some experience or 
training asa printer. ‘The expense per pupil for equipment, 
for the space it occupies, and for instruction, renders special 
training for such small classes impracticable. All the skilled 
occupations, with the exception perhaps of the machinist’s 
trade, are in the same case. An attempt to form separate 
classes for each of the eight largest trades in the city would 
result in two classes of not over five pupils, three classes of 
not over ten pupils, and only one of over thirteen pupils. 
“Number of boys who will probably become: 


Machinists 36 Carpenters 13 
Steam engineers 11 Painters 10 
Electricians 9 Plumbers q 
Compositors 5 Molders 5 


“The table shows the number of boys, in a school of this 
size, who are likely to enter each of these trades.’’ Accord- 
ing to this report, within the junior high school intensive 
trade training for any large proportion of the pupils is im- 
practical. The best that can be done is to introduce for 
boys a general industrial course in which is stressed the ap- 
plications of mathematics, drawing, physics, and chemistry 
to the more common industrial processes. Upon this gen- 
eral foundation later trade proficiency can be built. For 
girls this course would be paralleled by one stressing certain 
aspects of the household arts and home-making. 

In order to congregate a sufficient number of students to 
justify giving direct preparation, at the secondary level, 
for even a few of the typical callings, central vocational 
schools will be necessary. Here for a limited number of 


528 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


occupations, selected with reference to the demands of the 
community, as a result of data accumulated by a Depart- 
ment of Sociological Research within the school system, it 
will be possible to assemble the requisite equipment and 
teaching force. But it will always be true that the wide 
variety of skilled occupations which the pupils are destined 
to enter will preclude the possibility of giving specialized 
vocational training to all prospective artisans enrolled in 
the secondary school. 

To what extent must we depend on part-time education? 
For some of these occupations for which the secondary 
school, on account of numbers or equipment, cannot give 
formal training and for which the industry unaided cannot 
furnish the total training, a system of part-time or continua- 
tion education, given during the working hours and supple- 
menting the practical work in the industry, will have to be 
established. While some large corporations, by establishing 
apprentice schools within their own plants, may take upon 
themselves the complete responsibility of training their own 
employees, these isolated agencies can never train more than 
a small portion of those entering the skilled trades. Only 
large plants can institute such training methods, and then 
only when there is a reasonable ground for believing that 
the plant will be enabled to retain, for some considerable 
period, the services of those receiving the training. For 
this reason the problem of codperation between industry 
and the formal continuation school is of great importance. 

What warnings must be given in the field of industrial 
education? ‘The general situation with regard to the train- 
ing of skilled workers in the manufacturing and mechanical 
industries may now be summarized. Any attempt to give 
specific vocational training to pupils before fourteen years 
of age should be discouraged; after this period, for those who 
are intending to enter some of the wider fields which demand 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 529 


certain common informational elements and specific skills, 
such as machine work or the building trades, it is adminis- 
tratively possible to provide specific training. Owing to the 
large number of occupations into which the rest of the school 
population is going, only in exceptional cases can specific 
occupational training be given within the school. Such 
courses must only be provided by the school when careful 
inquiry reveals a definite demand in the industrial life of the 
community. Furthermore, these courses must not be given 
merely to relieve the industry from the burden of the train- 
ing, nor in the interests of larger initial wages for those 
entering the industry; they must only be established when 
the nature of the occupation is such that the training which 
the job affords is inadequate and uneconomical. Even 
under these conditions the possibility of a combined school 
and industry course through part-time or continuation edu- 
cation must be examined before the school shoulders the 
complete responsibility. It may be urged once more that 
only as vocational training can be provided with less cost by 
the school than by the industry should the formal agency 
assume the responsibility for such training. It must never 
be forgotten that whether vocational training is to be sup- 
ported through public taxation or through the increase in 
the price of the commodity, the burden cannot be escaped. 
But the evidence which has been presented shows most 
clearly how enormous will be the expense to society if the 
formal school, unaided by the industry, attempts to give 
vocational training to all artisans. In view of the fact that 
the most strenuous task of present-day education is the 
control of industrialism in the interests of a democratic hu- 
manism, educators must be everlastingly watchful lest an 
unanalyzed theory of values, erected by our economically 
obsessed society, be accepted as the basis of a philosophy 
of education. 


530 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


How has the changed economic status of woman affected 
her vocational training? We may now tuin to a problem of 
vocationa} education which has become particularly acute 
within our own generation. Any discussion of occupational 
training, however brief, is compelled to recognize the exist- 
ence of marked differences in the demands of the two sexes. 
The rapidly changing conception of the place of woman in 
the modern world makes difficult any formulation of the 
means and ends of her vocational preparation. In spite of 
the fact that usually women have not been recognized as 
Wage-earners, women as a class have always been self- 
supporting. It is interesting to note that in certain States, 
by legislating to women half the earned income of the hus- 
band, the law has recently come to recognize their economic 
contribution within the home. Whether such official rec- 
ognition is given or not, the fact is clear that except in rare 
instances the woman has naturally contributed to the eco- 
nomic life of the household. While this statement is in the 
main true of the modern mother, only the most casual ob- 
servation is needed to reveal great changes in the conditions 
of family life — changes which are working, on the one hand, 
to simplify and reduce the labor of the house, and on the 
other hand, to complicate and increase the demands made on 
woman in the home. Owing to the division of labor in 
modern industrial society, most of the products, which but a 
generation or so ago were manufactured within the home, are 
now delivered ready-made at the householder’s door. Ow- 
ing to the growth of modern invention and its successful 
application within recent years to the domestic labor prob- 
lems, the mechanics of the home have been much simplified. 
Because of the decrease in the number of children within the 
average family, and the extension of universal education, 
covering from eight to ten years of the child’s life, the tasks 
and responsibilities of the mother have been materially 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 531 


lessened. As against these factors, which reduce domestic 
labor, we may note the increasing demands for comfort of 
the ordinary household, the increasing technical knowledge 
called for by its methods and procedures, and the increasing 
conviction that home should be more than a place for which 
to toil, and in which to sleep, to eat, and to procreate. All 
of these factors, both positive and negative, are working to 
modify the objectives and change the emphasis in the voca- 
tional education of women. 

What is the dual réle of woman within the home? Two 
aspects of woman’s work within the home need to be dif- 
ferentiated. In the first place, there is the housekeeping 
which is concerned with the basic problems of clothing, food 
and shelter. Here certain skills are demanded, but more 
particularly sound judgment and accurate knowledge in the 
field of household economy. In the second place, there is 
home-making. While all members of the family are respon- 
sible for creating that peculiar atmosphere which makes a 
home, the mistress who presides over the household, and 
whose life concerns center around it, is in the best position to 
give direction to those activities and interests which are the 
mark of a congenial home. ‘The contrast between house- 
keeping and home-making is clear: the first is concerned 
with carrying out effectively certain more or less definite ac- 
tivities which can be catalogued and objectively evaluated; 
whereas home-making is concerned with the less tangible but 
equally important factors through which a happy household 
is created. In so far as man rises above the animal he needs 
a home, for his happiness is bounded by considerations other 
than those of shelter, raiment and food. As will readily be 
seen, the question of vocational education for housekeeping 
is comparatively simple; with full allowance for differences 
in vocational expectations, every girl must be given an 
opportunity to learn something concerning foods and their 


532 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


preparation, home nursing and the problems of infant care, 
expenditure of income, sewing, household furnishing and 
hhome management. 

What provision should be made for home-making? The 
problem of training for home-making is much more intricate; 
here the different theories of values, the different capacities, 
the different interests and the different tastes of various 
individuals and groups make formal instruction for this 
aspect of family life most indefinite. In so far as the basic 
human qualities which are the foundation for a happy home 
are required of men and women alike, this training in home- 
making will constitute a part of general education for both 
sexes; but since woman has a peculiar responsibility, it 
would seem that somewhere in the course of her education 
the girl should be given the opportunity to study the human 
problems of the home. The increasing leisure of all mem- 
bers of the household, due to the advent of codperative in- 
dustry, places a great responsibility on the parents. Espe- 
cially must the mother be trained to make the home a 
pleasant and stimulating place in which to live, and an ad- 
vantageous environment in which to develop the various 
personalities of the family. 

Why has woman been forced into an adventitious posi- 
tion? The peculiar economic position in which woman has 
been placed by the development of the closely knit coépera- 
tive society of our own generation remains to be considered. 
In primitive society man, it may be noted, started out to 
earn his living by fishing, hunting and other occupations 
remote from the family hearth. But as population increased 
and pressed upon the food supply, as the advantages of 
specialization of labor became apparent and as the worth of 
the more civilized occupations was appreciated, man pro- 
ceeded to take out of the home, one after another, the occu- 
pations which, at one time, were followed almost exclusively 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 533 


by woman. In so far as this has taken place, woman is left 
occupying a somewhat adventitious position: this is espe- 
cially apparent in the homes of the wealthy where the women 
tend to lead an idle and aimless existence. Asa result of this 
movement, if the married woman is to confine her energies 
within the home, she must find an outlet for her energies in 
the broader activities of home-making. IH, for one reason or 
another, due to absence or departure of children, or to serv- 
ice facilities, the home does not give sufficient outlet for this 
energy, unless she is to be parasitic, two courses lie open to 
her. Either she may enter the economic world and compete 
on an equal footing with man or, better, she may initiate, ad- 
minister, and “man”’ the large number of social and civic 
organizations and enterprises which are working within the 
community for human betterment. There is urgent need 
for directing the attention of women to the second alterna- 
tive, and for giving them the necessary training which will 
stimulate interest, and provide the skill and judgment neces- 
sary for the effective rendering of these various forms of 
social service. But the chief result of man’s entering the 
home and taking the occupations of the woman into the 
industrial world has been that woman, either willingly or 
under compulsion, has followed her occupations and has 
entered into the wider industrial and economic world, out- 
side the household. 

Why must vocational education disregard the traditional 
concept of woman’s sphere? Since such a large number of 
women regard their sojourn within the economic world as 
bridging a gap between leaving the home of their childhood 
and entering the home of their choice, woman’s position in 
this sphere of service obviously differs from that of man. 
The transitory stay of woman in industry and her conse- 
quent reluctance to undertake work that requires prolonged 
training with little economic return complicates the problem 


534 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


of her vocational education. To the extent that she enters 
this realm and remains, the problem of the vocational train- 
ing of women does not differ materially from that of the vo- 
cational training of men. ‘The idea that on a wide scale cer- 
tain occupations are more suited to the capacities of women 
than they are to those of men and vice versa is to a large de- 
gree inerror. The differentiation of occupation between the 
sexes is much more a result of environmental forces than of 
innate psychological differences. Woman is hampered in 
her fight for personal and economic independence by stupid 
notions of this kind, which are but rationalizations to cover 
the true motive — the desire of man to keep woman in the 
position of subservience. If the “‘stronger sex”’ can special- 
ize in pediatrics and earn its living by selling women’s stock- 
ings, corsets, and baby food, even a man-made world must 
recognize the right of women to plead at the bar and to gain 
her independence by selling bonds, real estate, and razors. 
It is a fond delusion that women can return to the status 
that was hers in an older civilization. 

From early times, sentimental writing has encircled the 
home with a halo of idealism; there is on this account a con- 
stant tendency to urge the return of woman to the sphere 
where, according to legend, she led a life so “wondrous, 
sweet and fair.” A little knowledge of the real facts of 
family life in past generations is sufficient to shatter this 
comfortable notion. Education, particularly, cannot seek 
refuge from the facts of life in this antiquated conception of 
the sphere of woman. Woman alone can determine her true 
place in society. Through radical experimentation educa- 
tion must enable her to demonstrate her capacities and 
limitations; capacities and limitations which, in the opinion 
of the authors, will prove to be remarkably like those of men. 
Students of comparative civilization are revealing the strik- 
ing interchangeability of rdles played by the two sexes, réles 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 535 


which in our civilization where man is dominant, we regard 
as distinctive of one or the other sex. It is safe to assume 
that the emancipation of woman, and her increasing inde- 
pendence of marriage as a means of establishing her social 
status, will necessitate a program of vocational education 
equal in scope to that provided for man and not so different 
in direction as many believe. This program must fit her for 
the manifold positions which in our economic life she is 
coming to occupy, naturally and gracefully. In addition to 
these vocational courses cor the extra household activities, 
either in the regular schooi course or through a widened con- 
tinuation education, she must be enabled, when the need 
arises, to acquire under formal supervision some of the more 
basic skills and knowledges required in housekeeping and 
child rearing. Also she must be provided with the oppor- 
tunity to become better acquainted with the means, in so 
far as they are communicable, whereby a house expresses the 
personalities of its inmates and reflects the cordial spirit of a 
home. 

What determines the nature of a vocational curriculum? 
Having considered the professional and industrial education, 
we may in closing direct attention to the general question of 
vocational curricula and vocational perspective. 

The principles which control the nature of the curriculum 
in vocational education are, mutatis mutandis, the same for 
the vocations at all levels. If an accurate and well-under- 
stood occupational terminology may be assumed, the first 
prerequisite is an intensive study of the actual situations 
and problems which are met by workers in the occupation 
under consideration. Occupational analysis, or, at its lower 
levels, job analysis, furnishes the intimate knowledge of the 
requirements of vocational proficiency. To be valuable this 
analysis must be carried out in great detail, and must be the 

result of the examination of the actual work of typical mem- 


/ 


536 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


bers of the occupation. Those habits and skills, those facts 
and ideas, those procedures and techniques which are being 
constantly employed by the most proficient workers must be 
made the definite objectives of the instruction. ‘The ef- 
fectiveness of the school must be judged by the manner in 
which the learner attains these specific objectives. If the 
training is to be of an economical and modern order, con- 
stant introduction of new material in the light of the newer 
phase of the calling, constant experimentation with new 
arrangements of studies, constant trial of new methods of 
teaching will be necessary. Because of the growth of knowl- 
edge, vigilance must be exercised, especially in our profes- 
sional schools, to prevent the course of study from becoming 
overloaded: there is constant danger lest, even to the willing 
and superior student, the curriculum may become a weari- 
ness to the flesh. In many of our medical schools the ordi- 
nary student can be likened to Bunyan’s pilgrim — “a book 
in his hand and a great burden on his back.” ! Traditional 
elements in the curriculum, having lost their relative useful- 
ness, must be abandoned, and the time saved must be de- 
voted to more thorough mastery of the more essential ele- 
ments of the course or to the inculcation of new practices 
and theories. 

Why is occupational analysis so difficult? While occupa- 
tional analysis of the simpler callings is comparatively easy, 
the analysis of the wider professions such as law, medicine, 
engineering, the ministry, teaching and diplomacy is most 
difficult. The fact that the professional man is responsible 
for meeting the unexpected issues and crises of individual 
and group life makes a definite analysis most intricate. 
For the ordinary demands of the profession, theoretical 
background is important and, for the advancement of the 


1 Tt cannot be too clearly recognized that the “difficulty”’ of a course 
of study is a function of the speed of instruction. 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 537 


profession and the improvement of its practice, becomes 
essential. ‘This necessity for theoretical background makes 
the problem of deciding just what shall be included in and 
excluded from the professional course unusually com- 
plicated. Analysis of activities may easily stress the more 
practical and more limited parts of the course at the expense 
of the wider and more theoretical training. So extensive are 
the ramifications of these callings, so specialized within 
themselves, as to render almost impossible the discovery of 
the essential elements. 

How can the spirit of service be maeeied into the occupa- 
tional life? As this brief discussion of some of the problems 
of vocational education is brought to a close, misunderstand- 
ing may be avoided by calling attention once more to the 
peculiar and narrow connotation of the term vocation. It 
has been used to signify the teaching of the direct skills, 
informational elements and procedures demanded by the 
occupation. But the mere skills and information are only 
one part of the vocational equipment; provision must also 
be made, somewhere in the training of the student, for the 
creation of the larger occupational viewpoint, and the in- 
culcation of a direct social responsibility with respect to 
the particular calling. That those embarking on the higher 
callings must have high professional standards and large 
perspective has always been taken for granted; but the ne- 
cessity for definite standards of conduct, for greater realiza- 
tion of responsibility, for greater understanding of the signifi- 
cance of human toil is necessary for all engaged in the work 
of the world. In the main, general education will have to 
create these standards, but the industrial school, the agri- 
cultural school, the commercial school, the normal school, 
the graduate school, and the higher professional school must 
insure that the individual, both prior to and during his 
specialized training, gets some understanding of the larger 


538 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


role which he is to play. ‘Through definite and systematic 
instruction he must acquire those attitudes and adopt those 
ideals which lead to the pursuit of the specialized calling in a 
spirit of social service. Certain of these attitudes and ideals 
will have to be taught with direct relation to the specific 
vocation, but the vast majority can be made the subject of 
instruction in the more general courses which precede or 
accompany the vocational training. Vocational training 
for individual advancement and social exploitation must 
give place to an education for individual ministration and 
social service. 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


1. To what influence may be traced the enormous increase in profes- 
sional and semi-professional occupations during the last century? 

2. How has the extension of the age of compulsory education focused 
attention on the problems of vocational education? 

3. What educational and social advantages and disadvantages would 
accompany placing complete responsibility for industrial training on 
industry? 

4. In view of the trend of modern industry, what are the probabilities 
that the proportion of workers in industry requiring extensive training 
will decrease? 

5. Show how the prerequisites for admission to a professional school are 
dependent on the elaborate interplay of educational, sociological and 
economic forces? 

6. What are the educational shortcomings of a system of professional 
training which thrusts upon the community a large number of individ- 
uals who use their special knowledge for exploitation? 

7. List the major reasons favoring the general educational position that 

the school should be very slow to undertake the burden of providing 

the narrower vocational training. 

8. To what extent is the enthusiasm for industrial training to be traced 
to the desire to use public funds to enable certain individuals and cer- 
tain industrial groups to attain a privileged economic position in a 
competitive industrial system? 

9. Show how the differentiation of industry and the increase in the 
number of occupations have made ridiculous the proposal for the ex- 
tension of formal vocational training to all. 

10. From the standpoint of educational values and the expenditure of 
_ public funds, criticize the common practice of giving narrow voca- 


= 


ih 


12. 


13. 


14. 


15. 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 539 


tional training to an individual who subsequently enters a totally dif- 
ferent type of vocation. How can this evil be remedied through voca- 
tional guidance? 

From the standpoint of training, what are the advantages of the part- 
time method in which the student divides his time between formal in- 
struction in the school and work in the industry? What are the dan- 
gers inherent in such a scheme? 

Give specific illustrations justifying the statement that the occupa- 
tional life of the community forms an essential background for much 
of the cultural education. Show how this form of education, though 
possessing vocational bearings, is not vocational. 

Show how vocational education proper must accept the present in- 
dustrial order, whereas general education with a vocational back- 
ground must be extremely critical of the industrial order and work for 
its progressive modification. 

How should the philosophy of vocational education for a democratic 
society differ from that adapted to a stratified society under auto- 
cratic rule? 

What do you consider will be the main changes in the economic posi- 
tion of woman during the coming century? 


PROBLEM 23 


WHAT METHODS SHOULD CONTROL THE 
CONDUCT OF INSTRUCTION? 


What is the nature of method? — Can method be considered apart from 
content? — What is the need for a study of methodology in instruction? — 
How can the products of instruction be classified? — What methods should 
control the acquirement of narrow skills? — What methods should control 
the acquirement of organized knowledge? —In presenting organized 
knowledge, what are the more general aspects of instruction? — What as- 
pect of instruction does preparation stress? — What aspect of instruction 
does presentation stress? — What aspect of instruction does association 
stress? — What aspect of instruction does generalization stress? — What 
aspect of instruction does application stress? — What methods should con- 
trol the acquirement of intellectual habits? — Why must the problem be 
the vehicle for training in thinking? — What methods should control the 
acquirement of attitudes and appreciations? — What are the major pro- 
cedures of teaching? — What are the merits and demerits of the lecture 
method? — What are the merits of the discussional method? — What are 
the dangers of the discussional method? — What is the function of the 
demonstration and laboratory method? — What is the place of the dramatic 
method? — How does the task-master conception of instruction misread 
the aim of education? — What are the larger aims of education? — What 
are the more tangible results of instruction? — How may these products be 
more effectively measured? — What has been the major contribution of the 
measurement movement? 


What is the nature of method? Speaking before a group of 
educators, an eminent university professor opened his 
address with the statement that he thanked the gods he had 
never studied “‘ methods of teaching.” Strange to say, this 
same individual would have been among the first to bear 
grateful testimony to the benefit he derived from a pains- 
taking study of the methods of research. Yet ‘‘ method ” 
in instruction does not differ in its essential nature from 
*“method ”’ in any other activity. When the cook pro- 
ceeds to make an omelette, when the carpenter proceeds 


METHODS OF INSTRUCTION «SAL 


to make a cabinet, when the physicist proceeds to investi- 
gate the properties of matter, or when the teacher proceeds 
to make clear the meaning of democracy, each in his re- 
spective activity employs a particular method. By an 
analysis of these various activities the nature of method 
becomes apparent. Method is nothing more than a form 
of procedure; it is the manner in which the individual uses 
the material at his disposal to produce or attain some end. 
Can method be considered apart from content? Whether 
the cook, the carpenter, the scientist or the teacher is 
considered, the method of each is judged good or bad as the 
activity is carried out in a way which produces the desired 
result. If there is no method, there will be no product; 
if there is a poor method, there will be a poor product; if 
there is a good method, there will be a good product. Ex- 
cellence of method exhibits itself in that selection of material 
and that ordering of the activity calculated to yield, in the 
most economical manner, the highest quality of product. 
That method cannot exist apart from an activity which is 
in progress is platititdinous. Method always has a particu- 
lar setting and always deals with particular material. But 
for convenience of thought, method may be abstracted from 
content and given separate consideration. If general 
methodology is to be studied, method must be isolated and 
freed from the particular elements to which in practice it is 
always joined. 
What is the need for a study of methodology in instruc- 
tion? Methodology in education does not differ in its essen- 
tial nature from methodology in any other field. It is only 
to be distinguished from methodology in other realms by the 
fact that it operates in different media and has correspond- 
ingly different ends. From the standpoint of the scholar, 
method is a guide to the employment of various means; 
it is an instrument for dealing effectively with the materials 


542 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


of his problem. From the standpoint of the teacher, our 
chief concern in this section, method signifies such selection 
and arrangement of the teacher’s activities and through 
these of the activities of his pupils as will yield, with the 
maximum economy, the results for which the activities are 
initiated. It would be passing strange if a close study of 
methods of procedure in education, a procedure which of 
necessity involves the most complex activities on the part 
of both teacher and pupil, did not yield a body of most val- 
uable information. For the teacher, a knowledge of the 
skill or subject-matter to be taught is but the beginning of 
wisdom. ‘This knowledge is the ssne qua non of the activ- 
ity, but to its insufficiency as an assurance of good teaching, 
the classrooms of our schools, and more particularly the 
lecture halls of our universities, bear constant and pathetic 
witness. The supercilious attitude of many teachers, 
especially in our higher institutions, towards the study of 
methods of teaching would be justified only on the assump- 
tion that the art of teaching cannot be learned, or else 
that it is such a simple procedure th&t any individual of 
reasonable intelligence could, in a short period of trial and 
error, learn all that is to be known concerning its conduct. 
“Teachers are born not made” is a comfortable doctrine, 
but, like so many other doctrines of a similar nature that 
confirm us in evil practice, it suffers from the great demerit 
of being in error! Previous statements in this paragraph 
show the absurdity of the second assumption. ‘“ Methods 
of teaching ”’ can no more be economically learned without 
the skillful guidance of a teacher than the “‘methods of 
research ” can be acquired without the skillful guidance of 
an investigator. 

What are the reasons for this need? ‘Three factors maxe 
essential a careful study of methodology. Firstly the time 
of the pupil is limited; secondly, the raw material of the 


METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 543 


process is human time and human energy; thirdly, the 
methods of the school and the methods of the teacher be- 
come the methods of the pupil. But while stressing the 
importance of methods we must at the same time warn 
the reader that formal procedures in instruction, like proce- 
dures in any other field, may easily become a fetish; they 
may corrupt good teaching; they may confine the activity 
rather than give it freedom. ‘These are the abuses and 
not the uses of method. Methods must be flexible, they 
must serve as general guides, they must not be worshiped 
as idols, they must be used as instruments. 

How can the products of instruction be classified? The 
field is now clear for a closer analysis of the problem. 
In achieving the main purposes of education the teacher 
must so direct his own activities and through these the 
activities of his pupil as to give the wisest aid to the latter 
in the acquirement of: 

(1) Narrow skills and habits, and the association of 

relatively isolated symbols with meanings. 

(2) Organized knowledge. 

(3) Habits of study, habits of thinking and habits of 

investigation. 
Appreciations, aspirations, and ideals. 
discussion will therefore concern itself with the 
methodology which should control the activities of the 
teacher and the pupils, as they co-operate to attain these 
various ends of instruction. 

What methods should control the acquirement of narrow 
skills? In activities which have for their aim the acquisi- 
tion of certain narrow motor skills or the acquirement of 
certain isolated facts, such as the multiplication or addition 
combinations, spelling, or the meaning of symbols, the 
basic function of the teacher is to present, with suitable 
explanation, a copy or model, and then allow the pupil to 


544 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


practice under supervision. In the simpler instances, 
economical learning demands a careful copying of the 
model. On account of the simplicity and directness of the 
response there is but little need for analysis. But as the 
activity becomes more complex, the need for analysis in- 
creases. ‘The teacher must strive to ascertain the relative 
importance of each component of the activity by noting its 
effect on later efficiency; he must determine the order in 
which these components are to be introduced, and he must 
give adequate exercise to each. The trial-and-error phase 
of the learning may usually be reduced by emphasizing 
certain aspects of the activity, and by calling attention to 
the places where mistakes are liable to occur. While the 
pupil must be allowed the opportunity to make those mis- 
takes which are essential to effective learning, it is to 
squander the experience of the past and to defeat the very 
purpose for which formal education exists, if the pupil is 
permitted undirected experimentation. ‘The pupil cannot 
be allowed to fritter away his time in trying out a series 
of wrong responses. ‘There is room for considerable judg- 
ment on the part of the teacher in allowing sufficient error 
in practice to insure security in the skill. Sound judgment 
is required at this point lest the errors merely consume time, 
energy, and material without giving power. 

The general rules which control habit formation have 
already been discussed at some length in Problem 6 and 
the reader is referred to the general principles there out- 
lined. But in this inquiry into the modes of acquirement 
of skills, these general principles may be made more definite 
by calling attention to the following aids: 

(1) Analyze the components of the skill, and call atten- 

tion to those of greater difficulty. 

(2) Give adequate exercise under close supervision ta 

each component. 


METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 545 


(3) Provide a good model. 

(4) Let the pupil know the precise nature of the objective. 

(5) Arrange, wherever possible, that the pupil himself 

know whether the skill is being successfully acquired 
or not. 

(6) Motivate the practice in every way possible. 

Can the tools of knowledge be acquired incidentally? 
Before we leave the question of the acquirement of the ele- 
mentary tools, one further point demands specific mention. 
In the acquirement of these tools to what extent is it wise 
to rely on incidental rather than formal instruction? Re- 
stricting ourselves to the matter of routine skills, we may 
note that there is no simple answer to this question. It 
will suffice to mention the two opposing positions. One is 
that the tools of knowledge can be acquired incidentally in 
the carrying out of other activities which are undertaken for 
their own sake. ‘Thus, it is contended, the child can learn 
the combinations of arithmetic, or learn to read, in order 
to accomplish some wider purpose. He may be trusted 
“to pick up”’ the material, to acquire the skill as part of a 
larger enterprise. On the other hand, the opponents of this 
incidental method of learning’ point out that the very 
reason for which the school came into existence was that 
the child failed to gain this efficiency incidentally in his 
other activities. Furthermore, they urge with great effect 
that every scientific investigation into the learning of the 
more complex skills and use of tools shows how wasteful 
may be the forms of incidental learning. If the bonds are 
to be formed in the right order, if they are to be formed cor- 
rectly, if they are to be exercised adequately, if they are to 
be tested properly; if, in other words, there is to be econ- 
omy of learning, the training must be formal rather than 
informal. Education is sadly in need of studies investigat- 
ing detailed rates of learning of diverse mental levels under 


546 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


different methods of instruction. Until such studies are 
available, to dogmatize is foolish. But it is perhaps not 
too much to say that every analytical study of the process 
of learning of such skills as reading, spelling, arithmetic, 
algebra, etc., makes the educator feel less inclined to rely 
on incidental methods. 

Perhaps the two positions may be somewhat reconciled. 
Admitting the fact that there are great dangers in pure 
formal training, the wise educator will take care that wher- 
ever possible the tools and basic skills are made to show 
their contribution to a wider purpose. Motive will thus be 
introduced. ‘The tools and skills will be not final aims but 
transitional means; in this sense instruction will be inciden- 
tal rather than formal. But whenever the tool or skill is 
being taught, the teacher must insure, that the pupils » 
without necessarily being conscious of his direction, are 
given the full benefits of practice under the conditions 
which modern psychological analysis is showing are essen- 
tial to effective learning. 

What methods should control the acquirement of organ- 
ized knowledge? After the first fundamental skills in the 
various fields of instruction have been acquired by the 
pupil, the imparting of isolated facts should become in- 
creasingly rare. The problem of the teacher is that of 
introducing the pupil to certain organized and closely 
related bodies of knowledge. This brings us to the second 
division of our objective. The aim ceases to be the acquir- 
ing of a skill or the memorizing of separate elements, and 
becomes that of understanding and retaining a body of 
facts which is logically integrated. To say that the body 
of facts is logically integrated would seem to imply that the 
task of the teacher is exceedingly simple. He has merely 
to follow in order these logical sequences and hold his pu- 
pils to this task. Unfortunately, the problem is more com- 


METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 547 


plicated. The material of education — history, science, lit- 
erature, etc. — exists in a form which is organized to appeal 
to the mature and trained mind. Its arrangement makes 
for conciseness, easy reference, and further investigation. 
It reflects an order which has existed in the mind of one who 
is interested in the subject itself, quite apart from its rela- 
tion to life’s activities. But this order which makes such an 
appeal to the trained and interested specialist is a stumbling- 
block to the untrained and uninterested child. The teach- 
ing process culminates in bringing the pupils to see the 
reason for its organization and to appreciate its usefulness. 
But to present to the immature mind subject-matter in the 
form in which it may be most readily employed by experts is 
obviously absurd. In order that the pupil may be brought 
to see the significance of the material it is necessary to 
consider his point of departure, his contacts, his interests, 
and his capabilities. The logical method of presentation 
must give way to the psychological mode of approach. In 
the initial stages, one is not so much a teacher of organized 
bodies of knowledge as a teacher of immature minds. There 
is no desire to make any ultimate distinction between the 
psychological and the logical: this is not the point at issue. 
The contrast is rather between a procedure which is dic- 
tated by the interests, needs, and capacities of the child 
(psychological), and a procedure which is wholly controlled 
by the interests, needs, and capacities of a trained student 
(logical). The psychological will lead to the logical or 
it is worthless; but the manner of approach and the general 
organization of the material of instruction, using the first 
method, will differ considerably from that employed in the 
strict logical presentation. 

How must methods be adjusted to different levels of 
instruction? In the interests of making the learner inde- 
pendent of the teacher — the final goal of all good instruc- 


548 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


tion — we must insist, as time proceeds, that the pupil 
be freed from the necessity of the psychological mode of 
presentation in which, for reasons of immaturity, great sac- 
rifice is made to conciseness, ease of reference, and applica- 
tion. In so far as the psychological approach is wasteful, 
the pupil must be so trained that the logical mode of pres- 
entation, because of its economies, becomes more helpful to 
him than the psychological. While instruction must begin 
with the infant mind as the focus of the problem, care must 
be taken that the weaning process is consummated. Other- 
wise the same infantile methods of teaching will have to 
be employed in the higher institutions of learning. Spoon 
feeding of pre-digested material must cease in our colleges 
and universities, and even in our high schools for children 
of superior minds. The individual must be taught to make 
independent use of the treatises in which human learning 
and experience are stored. These repositories of human 
learning, these means of intellectual salvation, must be 
made accessible to the better minds without the mediating 
ministrations of a pedagogical priesthood. These treatises 
are, and always will be, organized not for the understanding 
of infants but for the logically trained thinker. To enable 
the student to take a logically organized presentation of a 
certain field of knowledge and, without assistance, to gain 
an understanding and mastery of its elements and connec- 
tions, to bring him to welcome this logical mode of presen- 
tation rather than a less concise and logical mode, must be 
one of the major objectives of higher education. If, as some 
educators seem to advocate, the methods of teaching in the 
elementary school should be applied throughout the whole 
range of education, this aim can never be accomplished. 

In presenting organized knowledge, what are the more 
general aspects of instruction? ‘The method of procedure 
is intimately dependent upon the particular subject-matter 


METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 549 


of the field in question, and as the preceding paragraph 
shows, it is also intimately related to the degree of intellec- 
tual maturity of the student. This fact makes it dangerous 
to formulate a general method which should be followed in 
imparting a body of information. But with suitable 
changes to meet the specific conditions under which they 
may be employed, attention may well be directed to the 
so-called “* Five Formal Steps” of the Herbartian system. 
Although Herbart expounded his system in terms of a psy- 
chology of isolated ideas which is now discredited, his analy- 
sis can easily be restated in the terms of modern psychol- 
ogy. Abandoning his idea of steps to be traversed in favor 
of the conception of processes to which attention must be 
directed, and following later writers as regards terminology, 
we may consider the five aspects of instruction which were 
stressed by Herbart. These are: (1) preparation; (2) pres- 
entation; (3) association; (4) generalization; (5) application. 
These five divisions of the total activity, if followed too rig- 
idly, may easily hamper instruction; but, if used with discre- 
tion and freedom, they afford helpful guidance by calling 
attention to important aspects of the instructor’s problem 
in presenting any well-defined unit of instruction. 

What aspect of instruction does preparation stress? 
In the process of preparation, the teacher consciously at- 
tempts to prepare the mind of the pupil for the information 
which is to follow. Varying with the intellectual maturity 
of the learner, this may be achieved in a multitude of ways. 
With young children, by means of question and answer, 
instruction will begin with the summoning of any relevant 
knowledge pertaining to the new topic. This serves to 
direct the general flow of thought into the channels desired, 
and should end in a clear statement of the aim of the dis- 
cussion. In the interests of kindling the thought process, 
whenever possible, this aim should be stated in the definite 


550 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


form of a problem. With the statement of the problem, the 
responsibility of the teacher does not end; particularly with 
younger children, it is essential that the problem be made to 
appear worthy of the effort required in its solution. This 
may be accomplished by showing its relation to various 
elements of past experience and the larger social life. This 
important phase of the teacher’s problem properly belongs 
under presentation. 

What aspect of instruction does presentation stress? In 
the process of presentation, the teacher becomes the focus 
of attention. At this point the new material is presented. 
In so far as it is new, to extract the information from the 
pupil is of course impossible. Here, the teacher should 
proceed to acquaint the pupils with the new material and 
refuse to be daunted by the fact that he, rather than the 
pupil, must do the talking. Much time may easily be lost, 
at this stage, by a teacher obsessed with the notion that 
every new idea must be teased out of the experience of the 
pupils even though there is every assurance that these ideas 
are lacking; at this point the attempt to extract the new 
information, rather than to give it directly to the pupil, is 
wasteful of time and effort. Through direct statement, 
illustration, explanation, and interrogation, the new prob- 
lem is solved, or the new field developed. 

What aspect of instruction does association stress? ‘The 
process of association can hardly be separated from the 
process of preparation just discussed. If the new material 
is to be understood, it must, of necessity, be associated 
with past experiences; and, if the new material is also to be 
retained effectively, it not only must be associated in as wide 
a manner as possible with past experiences, but also it must 
be articulated with future activities. While presentation 
stresses the mere understanding of the material presented, 
association calls attention to the obligation of the teacher 


METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 551 


to interweave the new material, by as many strands as 
possible, with the old pattern. In this process discussion 
should be freely employed. 

What aspect of instruction does generalization stress? 
In the process of generalization, under the guidance of the 
teacher, the pupils attempt to summarize the information 
which has been given, or to state the solution of the prob- 
lem in a helpful and concise manner. In its most adequate 
form, this process culminates in a general proposition, a 
definition, a rule, ora law. But, in those cases where there 
is no possibility of reduction to a simple formula, a well- 
worded and brief summary of the material presented should 
be made. At this point, in ordinary class room procedure, 
the burden is upon the pupils. The teacher acts as a selec- 
tive agent and is responsible for the form of the final sum- 
mary. 

What aspect of instruction does application stress? In 
the process of application, following the statement of a 
general proposition, whether a law in physics, a rule in 
grammar, or a principle in human conduct, the attempt is 
made to ascertain whether the formula is a series of empty 
words, or whether it summarizes a body of significant ex- 
perience. The best method of testing this crucial point is 
to investigate the extent to which the new information can 
be directed to the solution of new problems, or the under- 
standing of new phases of the work. In order to free the 
principle from its immediate setting, to show that it is 
applicable in other directions than the specific one in which 
it originated, the teacher must develop its wider application. 
Here is the teacher’s strategic opportunity to give conscious 
attention to the problem of transfer of training; responsi- 
bility always rests upon the teacher to see that the body of 
information developed has the maximum range of useful- 
ness. Only as these new ideas are applied in other settings 


552 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


than those in which they were acquired will they assume 
that richness of significance which assures transfer. At 
no point is the distinction between good and poor teaching 
greater than in this process of application. The poor 
teacher leaves the new information with a narrow range of 
application, while the good teacher is careful, by comments 
and questions, to show its broader availability. 

From the description of the five processes which has been 
given, the reader will see that the last four are intimately 
related. Any attempt to make a unit of instruction follow 
in a rigid and slavish fashion a sequence of five steps would 
be disastrous. Regarded, however, as different aspects of 
instruction, no one of which should be overlooked when the 
teacher and pupil engage in the codperative enterprise of 
learning, Herbart’s divisions have distinct value. ‘The 
degree of emphasis given to these different divisions will 
vary greatly with the age of the pupil and the precise aim of 
instruction. With the intellectually mature, the process of 
presentation and generalization will preponderate, the 
individual himself being responsible for the detailed work 
which the other processes demand. Obviously, when the 
lecture system is employed, great assumptions with refer- 
ence to the abilities, codperation, and self-discipline of the 
hearers are made. But whether the discussional method 
or the lecture system is followed, these five aspects of the 
total process of instruction serve to remind the teacher of 
his various obligations; only as these are recognized is the 
maximum service rendered to the learner in acquiring new 
and fertile points of view. ‘ 

What methods should control the acquirement of intel- 
lectual habits? ‘The analysis of the methods whereby or- 
ganized knowledge is presented to the learner indicates how 
arbitrary was our classification of the ends of teaching. 
Habits of study and thinking — the third division of our 


METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 553 


analysis — are so inextricably interwoven with the pro- 
cedures employed in presenting information that their 
separation seems artificial. The justification for such 
separation must be found in the degree to which it directs 
specific attention to the opportunities which exist for help- 
ing the pupil to acquire the best methods of study and gain 
the maximum facility in thinking permitted by his endow- 
ment. The teacher must instruct the student in those 
methods of study which are employed by all capable think- 
ers. Restricting our attention, more specifically, to aids in 
acquiring and retaining the information upon which effec- 
tive problem solving is dependent, we may note that the 
student must be made to acquire the following powers: 
(1) The habit of getting a clear insight into the meaning 
of the material to be learned. 
(2) The habit of ages: relative values within the 
material. 
(3) The habit of concentrating on the important elements. 
(4) The habit of attempting to recall, from paragraph to 
paragraph, page to page, topic to topic, the salient 
points covered. 
(5) The habit of reviewing the material, at increasing 
intervals. 
(6) The habit of reviewing in spare moments material 
which has been learned. 
(7) The habit of concentrating on forgotten elements. 
(8) The habit of learning almost verbatim key phrases, 
definitions, rules, laws. 
(9) The habit of making outlines and marking texts. 
(10) The habit of effective reference to authoritative 
sources. 
(11) The habit of note-taking which will insure ready avail- 
ability of material, or ready reference to sources. 
(12) The habit of applying newly acquired principles in 
wider fields. 


554 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


If we add to this list the important procedures catalogued in 
our discussion of transfer of training on page 389, a wide 
group of intellectual and study habits is assembled. These 
should form the conscious objectives of school training. 

Why must the problem be the vehicle for training in 
thinking? In the earlier discussion of the psychological 
foundations of education, attention was repeatedly focussed 
on the fact that learning is essentially an activity, the most 
exacting activity in which man engages. All that the 
teacher can do is to insure the economical direction of the 
activity. In the section on reflection, the importance of the 
problem and the extreme value of the problem solving atti- 
tude have been stressed. Only by cultivating this attitude 
can we hope to train the individual to think. To teach the 
individual to think to the maximum extent of his capacity 
may be said to be the major goal of the educative process. 
Information should be presented, methodology should be 
controlled to accomplish this end. Dewey lists as the marks 
of the effective thinker: (a) flexibility; (b) directness; (c) 
openmindedness; (d) whole-heartedness. These character- 
istics can be favored only by continuous exercise in thinking 
itself. The importance of having much of the instruction 
center definitely around problems akin to those in which the 
individual will need facility in his adult life cannot be over- 
stressed. Problems, problems, and again problems should 
be the basis of instruction. All the orthodox subject-matter 
of the school should be examined to see the manner in 
which its essential elements can be taught around problems 
which grow wider and wider in their scope and demands. 
At first the problems will be simple and the guidance in 
their solution detailed; as time progresses, not only will the 
problems become more involved but the degree of guidance 
in their solution will diminish. Eventually the mature 
student must be responsible for: 


METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 555 


(1) Realizing and stating his own problem. 

(2) Collecting information to solve the problem. 

(3) Self-criticism in the various steps of solution. 

Education must finally make the pupil independent of the 
teacher and independent of extremely simplified texts. It 
is this fact that makes the reliance on elementary methods 
in our colleges, and still more in our universities, so harmful. 
Methods which are to be highly favored at one level of 
instruction may be condemned at another. To gain a more 
adequate conception of the place of the problem in instruc- 
tion the reader is referred to the discussion of reflection in 
Part Two. With the statement that the derivation and 
solution of problems should be the keynote of the intel- 
lectual activities of our educational institutions and with 
the warning not to permit too much squandering of valu- 
able time in unguided effort in the process, this phase of 
the teacher’s obligation may be left. 

What methods should control the acquirement of atti- 
tudes and appreciations? Wenow come to the consideration 
of the fourth division of pupil objectives of instruction. This 
division concerns itself with the development of apprecia- 
tions, aspirations, and ideals. With reference to the method 
to be employed in gaining these objectives, formal guidance 
of a definite order is most difficult. Appreciations and 
ideals, to be effectively acquired, must make an emotional 
appeal; they can never be reduced to a mere formula of 
words; routine teaching, unless ably given, encourages hum- 
bug and priggishness in the pupil. In spite of this danger, 
the educator is responsible for the acquisition on the part 
of the pupil of a multitude of graduated and varied feelings 
with reference to certain ideas, objects, and social practices. 
Plato, in considering this difficulty, could give no better 
advice than to surround the children, from their earliest 
years, with that which is good, beautiful, and estimable. 


556 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


In attaining this objective the maximum use must be made 
of the tendency to cling to that to which the individual has 
been accustomed; he must be kept from contact with that 
which is evil, ugly and unworthy. The enthusiasm of the 
teacher must be caught by the pupil. The prestige sugges- 
tion of great minds and great souls must be brought to play 
upon him. In many cases, without knowing why, he should 
come to share the ideals and appreciations of mankind. 
The intellectual appeal is, at best, one-sided and limited in 
its scope. ‘The immature individual is immensely suggest- 
ible on the feeling side, so suggestible as to make him a 
menace; but this very suggestibility, which has its dangerous 
aspect, may be harnessed for the useful purpose of impart- 
ing to him the aspirations and ideals which are the mark of 
the civilized and cultured man. ‘The ideals and the appreci- 
ations which the student is to share must be set up as 
definite objectives of instruction; they must not be left to 
assume form by themselves, but must be worked for with 
the same zeal and with greater subtlety than are the more 
tangible goals of teaching. 

What are the major procedures of teaching? Up to 
this point, only the more general aspects of method in 
teaching have received consideration; only the more general 
guides for instruction have been laid down. ‘The various 
instructional methods which are used in educational insti- 
tutions must now be catalogued. There are five large 
modes of directing the experiences of the learner, which 
may be found separately but more usually in combina- 
tion. These are: (1) the discussional method; (2) the 
laboratory method; (3) the demonstration method; (4) 
the dramatic method; (5) the lecture method. In an in- 
structional system, each of these modes of teaching has its 
proper place. It is not a matter of deciding the superiority 
of one but of attempting to show the true place of each. In 


METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 557 


view of what has been said with reference to the extreme 
importance of making teaching consist essentially in the 
‘solution of problems by the pupils, and remembering that 
learning is self-activity, the teacher will be compelled to 
rely chiefly on the discussional, dramatic, and laboratory 
methods, to a less degree on demonstration and to a still 
less degree on the exclusive lecture method. If we examine 
some of the weaknesses of the lecture method, we shall be 
better oriented to discuss the other four procedures. 

What are the merits and demerits of the lecture method? 
The lecture system has been condemned for the following 
reasons: 

(a) It admits of almost complete passivity on the part 

of the student. 

(b) It does not of necessity give the student any exercise 
in the thought process; for there is no friction of 
minds, no stimulation of the group. 

(c) It separates the teacher and the student, consequently 
it affords but little guidance as to rate or success of 
presentation; it divorces the teaching from the 
learning process. 

(d) It deadens interest and is less liable to make the 
deeper impression which discussion produces. 

(e) It assumes a high level of intelligence on the part of 
pupil and a considerable facility in note-taking. 

In a pure form the lecture method, when the aim is to 
convey information rather than appreciation, is only jus- 
tifiable when eager and trained students desire to get in the 
shortest time a body of information which is not available, 
or not readily available, in written form. For advanced 
students, who have already had considerable training and 
who bring to the lecture a problem attitude of mind, the 
lecture of an eclectic order performs a unique function. But 
it can readily be seen that the lecture has no place in the 


558 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


instruction of the immature whose interest and capacity for 
thinking need rigorous training; consequently with younger 
pupils combinations of the discussional, laboratory, demon- 
stration, and dramatic methods must be employed. 

What are the merits of the discussional method? If the 
discussional method be examined, it will be found to obviate 
the demerits of the lecture system. In a lesson conducted 
by a skillful and spirited teacher, the pupil shares in, and 
indeed is, the activity; he cannot assume a passive attitude; 
he is responsible for more than absorbing in memoriter 
fashion; he is called upon to exercise his ability in think- 
ing by helping in the solution of problems which are con- 
tinually arising. The teacher and the pupil are in close 
contact, the stimulation of the group kindles the mind of 
each member; every opportunity is given to observe the 
extent to which the point is being understood, the pupil is 
allowed to ask for further explanations at the points of 
special difficulty and the rate of instruction synchronizes 
with the speed of learning. Interest is maintained by the 
give and take of discussion, a give and take which has 
always made appeal to the human mind. The student is in 
a position to challenge the interpretation of the instructor 
and is able to free himself from dogmatic presentation. 

What are the dangers of the discussional method? But 
the very informality and looseness inherent in this discus- 
sional or, unfortunately styled, socialized recitation! intro- 
duce attendant dangers. Perhaps the greatest of these dan- 
gers is evident in the teaching of the recent convert to the 
Socratic method of instruction; hastening from the ‘“‘method 

1 The term “‘recitation”’ as used in education in the United States is most 
unhappy. Literally, to recite means to re-cite, “to repeat as something 
prepared, written down, or committed to memory.’’ (Webster.) This 
activity is just the one that should be discouraged. A “‘socialized recita- 


tion”’ comes very near to a contradiction of terms; it does not convey the 
meaning of those who use the phrase. 


METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 559 


courses ’’ where he has been told that the successes of the 
discussion may be measured by the extent to which the 
teacher is silent and the pupil is vocal, the young convert 
proceeds to efface himself; this, forsooth, when he is the 
only member of the group who has the necessary informa- 
tion or exact knowledge concerning the goal of the activity. 
To attempt to extract information from uninformed pupils 
is the height of folly. Even in the discussional mode of 
instruction, the teacher must not hesitate to “lecture,” 
but he must not lecture long. The eliciting of pupil infor- 
mation may easily be reduced to the absurdity of the situa- 
tion where a teacher having given lessons on the dog and 
cat, opened the next lesson by the question — “‘ What do 
you think we are going to talk about to-day? ” After sev- 
eral minutes of asinine guessing, presumably, “to kindle 
interest,” it appeared that the answer for which the class 
was waiting with trembling eagerness was “The Cow”! The 
pupils are in the group to learn, and only when they have 
something definite to contribute or can learn something 
definite through talking, should they be allowed to talk. 
Again discussion may easily become irrelevant; idle com- 
ments which contribute nothing to the main issue may be 
allowed. ‘The teacher must always remember that those 
who are codperating with him in the discussion are immature 
and are engaging in the activity for purposes of training; 
if great care is not exercised, the thirty or forty untrained 
debaters will carry off his feet the one individual who knows 
whither the activity is tending. Furthermore, these thirty 
or forty participants represent wide levels of mental acuity. 
If some of the stupid and loquacious are allowed to occupy 
more than their fair time on the floor, the discussion readily 
becomes extremely tedious, and demands no effort on the 
part of the majority. 

In the case of adult students, particularly, the discus- 


560 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


sional method must be used not because it is interesting, 
nor yet because it is easy for the student, but because it 
makes exacting demands on attention and mental capacity. 
All too often it is given its high rank because it calls for less 
mental exertion than does a straight lecture when rigorously 
followed by a wide-awake student. To lecture is difficult 
enough, but to conduct a good discussional group, where 
every individual is a contributor and working to the limit 
ef his capacity, is infinitely more arduous. Many think the 
reverse. This is often because their standards of relevance 
and intellectual effort in the discussion are much lower 
than they would be in a formal lecture. Let him who finds 
that discussion is easy, examine himself to see whether he is 
not in many cases discussing the obvious, or proceeding at a 
rate which demands no intellectual vigor. With these neces- 
sary warnings, we may conclude that except in the rare cases 
to which attention has been drawn, the discussional develop- 
mental method will be the common procedure of teaching. 

What is the function of the demonstration and laboratory 
method? With younger pupils, the demonstration and 
laboratory modes of instruction will usually form parts of 
the discussional lesson. Demonstration, whether in block 
building, handwriting, or a science lesson, is employed to 
enable the pupil, in an economical and effective manner, to 
understand and master some new procedure. In most cases 
this method should be accompanied by a repetition of the 
same or a similar activity by the pupil. Demonstration has 
the great merit of being rapid, of permitting the teacher to 
exhibit a technique and to call attention while the process is 
unfolding before the pupil to its salient aspects. This 
often saves much of the time which is consumed in the 
unguided process ordinarily accompanying laboratory work. 
Because teacher demonstration without pupil performance 
often fails to give sufficient acquaintance with the procedure 


METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 561 


for effective execution or an adequate understanding of the 
activity, education must not be led to the other extreme of 
expecting the pupil to discover everything for himself. 
No better occupation for filling the void of eternity can be 
conceived than that of setting the pupils to “ rediscover ” 
the procedures and truths which have been laboriously 
accumulated by the best minds of each generation. In the 
first place, they can never do it; and, in the second place, if 
they coulda, it would be an enormously wasteful process of 
learning. While every attempt, under simplified and well 
controlled conditions, should be made to have the pupils 
get some understanding and appreciation of the discoverer’s 
point of view, this method of rediscovery squanders the 
experience of the past, and violates the fundamental prin- 
ciple for which the school was brought into being. Labora- 
tory work, under this “heuristic system,” is extremely time- 
consuming. ‘Teaching by project, which is but one phase of 
the laboratory method, in so far as it fritters away time and 
energy in routine activity, exhibits the same fault. The 
planning of a good project is excellent training, the execu- 
tion of the project up to the point where it requires adapta- 
tion of means to end and the acquisition of new skills and 
appreciations is also valuable; when routine begins to settle 
on the activity, and this may be very early for the brightest 
pupils, its educational worth diminishes. In teaching by the 
laboratory and project methods, constant vigilance must be 
exercised to short circuit those phases of the activity which 
are mechanical in their nature and not productive of edu- 
cational growth. ‘The school life of the pupil is too short to 
justify mere “‘ busy work.’ While the teacher must insure 
that the pupil gains confidence in his own powers by carry- 
ing out a plan to a successful conclusion, a little imagina- 
tion or a little symbolism at various parts of the activity 
will often prevent a useless expenditure of energy. 


562 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


What is the place of the dramatic method? ‘So important 
a place does learning through the dramatic method occupy 
that it well deserves its position among the more commonly 
accepted and dignified methods which have been listed. 
At a time in educational thinking when learning through 
action is so much stressed there should be little danger of 
neglecting this useful mode of inducting the child into the 
emotional and the intellectual group life. We have already 
called attention to the intimate and persistent manner in 
which social pressure is brought to play upon every indi- 
vidual to imitate those about him. Life for the child is 
endless imitation; in a single day he plays many parts. 
The appeal of the dramatic is impelling. The school has 
been slow to see what a powerful instrument for good, 
particularly in the early years of formal instruction, is this 
desire to dramatize. Through its agency, reality could 
be given to the otherwise remote, interest to the otherwise 
dull, insight to the otherwise incomprehensible. It requires 
no strict adherence to any doctrine of psychology to realize 
how well the acted part, because it compels the actor to 
assume certain bodily postures and certain facial expressions, 
introduces the child to the emotional experiences of others. 
Through the agency of the drama, however simple, and the 
story, however crude, and the picture, however bizarre, 
mankind has derived attitudes, appreciations, and under- 
standings that could hardly have been conveyed in any 
other way. Dramatization will always occupy a strategic 
position in the methodology of education, for while in its 
beginning it is narrow imitation, in its end it is unfettered 
creation. 

How may petty school procedures be unduly exalted? 
Whatever may be the larger methods or the smaller devices 
of instruction, their success must in the last analysis be 

judged by the extent to which the pupil acquires the skills, 


METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 563 


knowledges, procedures, aspirations and ideals which are 
the objectives of the activity. This, the ultimate criterion, 
is, as we shall presently see, difficult enough to apply when 
the measurement of a skill or the acquisition of knowledge 
is involved. But when the demand is for the direct meas- 
urement of the degree to which the pupil is the master of 
certain procedures of a wider order, and for the measure- 
ment of the extent to which he has adopted interests and 
associated himself wholeheartedly with certain ideals, the 
task becomes so subtle, the objectives so intangible, the val- 
ues so imponderable, the chance for hypocrisy so great, that 
one grows more and more distrustful of any simple measur- 
ing rods set up to measure these, the most important and 
far-reaching products of education. Skill and knowledge 
may be imparted; the routine of the school may force these 
upon the pupil; but the very methods which produce these 
changes may defeat the wider aims of education. Though 
mechanical facility flourish, though knowledge flourish, 
interest in intellectual growth or desire to improve the con- 
dition of life may languish. ‘To this point we shall return 
when we evaluate the movement for the measurement of 
the objectives of education. It has been mentioned here in 
order to show the need, in estimating the success of instruc- 
tion, for instruments of precision other than those which 
are at present available in the field of educational measure- 
ments. 

How does the taskmaster conception of instruction mis- 
read the aim of education? From the very beginning of 
human intercourse, the need has been felt for some measure 
to determine the relative effectiveness of different individ- 
uals in changing the minds and hearts of their associates. 
Group life and concerted action have been intimately de- 
pendent on the ability of leaders to instruct and inspire 
others. The abilities required in the teacher are not differ- 


564 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


ent in their essential nature from those found in the reform- 
ers and the inspirers of all ages. The teacher’s mission is 
to reform, his vocation is to inspire. Such a statement 
would seem platitudinous were not the time-honored picture 
of the schoolman that of a taskmaster, driving his pupils 
to unwelcome toil. ‘The taskmaster may succeed well in 
teaching skills, he may instill a modicum of information, 
but he will leave no desire for further learning nor will he 
give his pupils a body of social ideals. Attention has al- 
ready been directed to the extremely short time that the 
teacher has at his disposal; even during school life the hours 
of instruction are relatively limited and the school life of 
most pupils is but eight or ten years. The taskmaster con- 
ception is at fault, not only because of its inhumanity, but, 
because of its failure to do that for which the school pri- 
marily exists. 

What are the larger aims of education? The procedures 
of the school, even in the early years of instruction, and 
increasingly in the later years, must be ordered and con- 
trolled with the specific purpose in mind of making the 
pupil more and more independent of the inspiration, guid- 
ance, and stimulation of the teacher. When the eye of the 
taskmaster is turned, or the stimulus of the teacher is absent, 
further work is not forthcoming. For the pupil engaging in 
work under these conditions the last school bell of his school 
life is the signal for the abandonment of further effort to 
study and enjoy the things of the mind. If the school fails, 
during the limited period at its disposal, to give to the pupil 
a wide range of interests, to give him motives for further 
observation and reading, to give him desires to understand 
a little more clearly the intricacies of living, to give him 
longings to seek and to find the beautiful in nature and in 
man; if the school, immersed in its petty routine, fails to do 
these things, whatever may be the mechanical ability, or 


METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 565 


erudition of its product, it has failed indeed. However 
great may be the evidence that the children have been fully 
occupied, that they can read, spell, write, figure and trans- 
late to satisfy the most exacting pedant, unless the student 
leaves with the desire to be a student for the rest of his life, 
the final verdict must be “ Failure.”” The teacher may have 
been busy, the pupils may have been busy, they may have 
busied themselves about many things, but they have chosen 
the poorer part. On this account the process of instruction 
in the later years of school life must be judged, not in terms 
of the mechanics of learning, but by the extent to which it is 
fostering initiative and inculcating motives in its pupils. 
Only as these two objectives are consciously formulated as 
the ends of education, only as methods and procedures are 
painstakingly adjusted to further these ends, can the school 
hope to fulfill its true function. ‘This function is that of 
sending out interested citizens who at their various levels 
are eager to continue their education in life’s great contin- 
uation school, where the last bell will never sound, where 
the doors will never close, where the activities will never 
cease. 

How can teaching further these larger aims? If instruc- 
tion is judged more by these larger ends, and less by the 
mechanics of teaching which are still the bane of the normal 
school, the attitude of the pupils, both towards their formal 
school training and towards the wider training that life af- 
fords, will be effectively changed. The standards for judg- 
ing instruction which McMurray has formulated follow 
these general lines and, with certain changes and additions, 
may be applied here. At all levels of instruction the pro- 
cedure must be judged by its success in: 

(a) Supplying motives to the pupils for further activity. 

(b) Exercising the pupils in discriminating the values 

inherent in the elements of an activity. 


566 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


(c) Giving the pupils exercise in the organization of the 
contributory elements of an intellectual or social 
activity. 

(d) Encouraging initiative on the part of the pupils. 

(e) Freeing, from the necessarily limited setting in which 
they originate, the skills, information, procedures, 
and ideals imparted in the school, so that they may 
be most generally applicable to the appreciation and 
interpretation of life. 

Each of these larger criteria of instruction focusses atten- 
tion upon changes made in the pupils. While these some- 
what intangible and imponderable objectives do not, and 
probably never will, admit of exact measurement, they must 
always serve as the guiding philosophy of instruction. 

What are the more tangible results of instruction? But 
contributory to these more fundamental changes made in 
the pupils, are a number of more specific modifications. 
It is in terms of these changes that we commonly think when 
reviewing the aims of the school. The child must learn to 
talk without serious grammatical error, he must learn to 
read, figure, and write; at higher stages, he must become 
acquainted with other civilizations, he must acquire facility 
in handling apparatus, he must learn to speak and read 
foreign languages. Because these powers are so essential to 
the achievement of the wider purposes of education, they 
tend to become its exclusive aims. The ends are lost in the 
means, the forest is obscured by the trees. These definite 
powers must be acquired, they are essential to the larger 
enterprise; but the educator must be constantly watchful 
lest transitional aims become the final aims of instruction. 
‘But, while these narrow abilities do not constitute the 
larger values of education, their very narrowness and 
definiteness permit the educator to investigate, with con- 
siderable exactitude, the degree of their attainment. The 


METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 567 


limited nature of the objective makes easy the direct 
measurement of its attainment. 

How may these products be more effectively measured? 
By tests and examinations the schoolmaster from early 
times has attempted to measure the success of his instruc- 
tion. He may have been in doubt as to whether his instruc- 
tion was influencing the wider behavior and character of his 
pupil, but he was in no doubt as to the ability of the scholar 
to decline amo, or to re-cite the factual elements of the 
subject taught. It is extremely fortunate for accurate 
thinking that, in certain well-defined directions, the abilities 
of groups and of individuals may be accurately measured. 
Owing largely to the work of Thorndike a movement has 
been well launched to make more analytical, more accurate, 
and more complete the methods of testing the capabilities 
and acquirements of pupils. No schoolmaster has ever 
been so foolish as to attempt to teach without, in one way or 
another, testing his pupils. But the tests applied have 
usually been crude in conception, difficult in application, 
and limited in interpretation. Adopting the methods of 
other quantitative sciences, the measurement movement in 
education has striven to improve examinational devices so 
that they will have a wider range of usefulness. 

Whether the native or acquired efficiency of pupils is to 
be measured is not the point at issue. The question is 
rather one of procedure. Shall the judgment be the opinion, 
necessarily subjective, frequently offhand or prejudiced, of 
some one individual, or shall the rating be made by the use 
of tests devised by specialists and standardized by a series 
of careful measurements? If pupil efficiency is to be meas- 
ured with any degree of exactness, clearly defined units 
and carefully constructed scales for measurement are re- 
quired. These objective scales which are relatively inde- 
pendent of individual opinion must as far as possible replace 


568 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


the subjective scales now in use. In the measurement of 
classroom products educators must construct large num- 
bers of these objective or universal scales. Every such 
instrument, before being employed for the testing of a pupil, 
must fulfill at least three essential requirements: 

(a) It must yield a consistent objective measure of a 

desirable educational product in the individual tested. 

(b) It must lend itself to economical administration and 

scoring. 

(c) It must be so simple in its interpretation as to render 

it suitable for ordinary use. 

Furthermore, if comparisons outside the group tested are 
to be made, records of other individuals must be accessible. 
From these records norms or standards for various groups, 
grades, and mental levels can be established. 

What is the range of measurement? ‘Tests and scales 
have been constructed to measure the acquirement of skill 
and information in most of the elementary school subjects. 
Objective standards in the secondary school subjects are 
being rapidly constructed and, already, the movement is 
spreading to the college and professional school. So fruitful 
have been the results obtained from the application of these 
methods, and so numerous are the measuring devices, that 
one is encouraged to believe that the same methods will be 
employed in wider fields than those of skill and information. 
Where the procedures, appreciations, and ideals are defined 
with a reasonable amount of clarity, it is only a matter of 
ingenuity to invent instruments for objective measurement. 
It is safe to assume that further experimentation will pro- 
vide educators with means of accurate measurement in at 
least some phases of the larger objectives of education to 
which reference has already been made. 

What has been the major contribution of the measure- 
ment movement? So productive has this movement been in 


METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 569 


its initial years that claims may be made that standardized 
mental and school tests, wisely employed, are capable of 
accomplishing the following ends: 

_ (a) Making definite the aims of education and determin- 
ing the possibility, for individuals of varying mental 
levels, of attaining these aims. 

<b) Furthering the detailed analysis of the processes of 

learning. 

(c) Aiding individual diagnosis and group analysis. 

(d) Improving classification and promotion, and educa- 

| tional and vocational guidance. 

(e) Improving school records and methods of reporting. 

(f) Establishing definite standards of achievement for 

various individuals and groups. 

(g) Enabling comparisons to be made external to the 

group tested. 

These are the more obvious uses of the tests. Under con- 
trolled conditions, with more adequate scientific checks, 
the principles underlying the testing movement can be 
used for the more elaborate purposes of evaluating teachers, 
textbooks, and modes of instruction. They can also be em- 
ployed to investigate questions of curriculum procedure, 
such as the distribution of time and the influence of age on 
learning. 

What are the dangers of the educational measurement 
movement? The extravagant claims which have been 
made by enthusiasts in this field must not imperil the 
forward advance of the movement. ‘The methodology is 
sound, the point of view is essential, and the merits of both 
are independent of stupid errors in their application. This 
point must be made clear before we proceed to consider some 
of the more obvious hazards which attend the creation of 
the new instruments. Because certain of the narrower 
aims can be measured with such precision, there is grave 


570 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


risk that attention will be concentrated on these aims with a 
consequent neglect of the broader issues. If certain narrow 
limited objectives are set up and instruments of precision 
devised to measure their attainment, then the activities 
which lead to these objectives may be unduly stressed at 
the expense of other more important activities. This 
danger the extension of the movement to the measurement 
of wider phases of behavior will of itself correct; but as long 
as all the aims of education cannot be measured this peril 
of emphasis must be watched. To measure the product and 
present practices of a wrongly conceived educational sys- 
tem, and thereby to derive certain objectives and stand- 
ards of achievement, is obviously a vicious circle and a 
procedure which leads to false aims and false standards. 
Uniformity of procedure and uniformity of product, quite 
apart from any careful consideration as to the desirability 
of such uniformity, may easily be an unfortunate outcome 
of the present standardized tests. A consensus of practice 
is no criterion of excellence. With its bias toward uniform- 
ity the movement for the educational measurement of school 
products must be continually scrutinized. Standardized 
instruments, unless they are rapidly changed to keep pace 
with more enlightened educational aims and practices, may 
easily have a reactionary influence on the activities of the 
schools of the country. But these abuses in application 
of the methodology must not prejudice opinion concern- 
ing the value of the methods themselves. No prophetic 
ability is needed to forecast that on account of the more ade- 
quate knowledge and increasing control which the scien- 
tific movement in education is furnishing to teachers and 
educational philosophers, the next twenty-five years will 
witness great changes in educational procedures, and, what 
is more significant, great changes in educational aim. 


12. 


13. 


14. 


METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 571 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


. Why have college instructors been inclined to regard courses in 


methodology as superfluous and unimportant, and suited only to the 
needs of elementary-school teachers? What can be said for and 
against this attitude? 


. Why have those occupations which are allied with teaching, in that 


they seek to enlighten, persuade, and teach others, such as acting, 
salesmanship, journalism, and public speaking, given such an impor- 
tant place to methodology? 


. How do you account for the fact that occasionally a football coach, 


who is only moderately skillful himself, has signal success in produc- 
ing excellent players and teams? How do you explain the reverse 
situation? 


. What is the justification for the accusation that in many normal 


schools methodology has been regarded as an end rather than a 
means? 

In the ordinary instruction of the classroom which two principles of 
the Herbartian system are most often neglected? Justify and explain 
your decision. 


. How, with slight modifications, may the principles of the Herbartian 


system be applied to the acquisition of some of the narrower skills? 


. What is the justification for the point emphasized in the text that the 


five Herbartian principles must be regarded as aspects of the teaching 
process rather than five formal steps in a lessen plan? 


. In associating symbols with meanings in the learning of a foreign 


language, how is the direct method superior to the translation method? 


. In telling a story to young children, how does the teacher make use of 


the lecture and dramatic methods of instruction? 


. What is the place of the lecture at various levels of instruction? 
. In order to insure, on the part of the student, an appreciation of the 


wider applications of a general principle, what procedures must the 
teacher employ? How would the methods of the teacher vary with 
the level of intelligence of the student? 

Justify the statement that the clear recognition of the place of the 
problem in instruction is the most significant contribution to the 
methodology of teaching made during the last century. 

What are the criteria by which the educational worth of a problem for 
presentation to the group is determined? 

In view of the fact that problems always evolve out of the experience 
of the individual, why is it difficult and even impossible for the teacher 
to thrust problems on the pupil? To what extent have the problems 
of the school been teacher problems rather than pupil problems? 
What is the psychological difference between the so-called teacher 
problem and the so-called pupil problem? 


572 


15. 


16. 


17. 


18. 


19. 


20. 


DN 


22. 


23. 


PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


How is the problem method in complete accord with the changed at- 
titude towards the child which is commonly ascribed to Rousseau? 
From the standpoint of the psychological processes involved, distin- 
guish between the learning of facts and the development of apprecia- 
tions. 

What are the weaknesses of formal education which give some justifi- 
cation for the accusation that the individual submitted to it loses that 
curiosity which is so evident in the young child? 

Why has the school given so little attention to the inculcation of pur- 
poses and motives for further educational growth in the post-school 
life of the individual? 

What psychological principles operate to make dangerous the rigorous 
application of any general method of instruction to all individuals? 
What contribution can the measurement movement make to the form- 
ulation and realization of the purposes of education? Why can meas- 
urement, from its very nature, never determine an educational value? 
Why in a philosophy of education does the measurement movement 
occupy such a subsidiary position? 

Why has the growth of the measurement movement with its added 
control over the processes of learning increased the necessity for study 
of the philosophy of education? 

In what respects should the methods of instruction employed in the 
schools of a democratic society differ from those used in tne schools of 
an autocratic social order? — 


PROBLEM 24 


TO WHOM SHOULD SOCIETY DELEGATE THE 
EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION? 


What position would the teacher occupy in an ideal society? — What posi- 
tion does the teacher occupy in American society? — What is the profes- 
sional status of teaching to-day? — How is the present status of teaching 
to be explained? — Why must the status of teaching be raised? — How can 
the status of teaching be raised? — How are the ranks of the teaching pro- 
fession recruited? — What constitute the attractions of a profession? — 
How is the status of teaching dependent on financial remuneration? — * 
How is the status of teaching dependent on opportunity for doing creative 
work? — How is the status of teaching dependent on freedom of thought 
and action? — How is the status of teaching dependent on social recogni- 
tion? — How is the status of teaching dependent on a high professional 
sense? — How is the teaching profession in a strategic position for elevating 
its own status? — How should compensation be adjusted to different levels 
of the educational system? — How should compensation be adjusted to the 
sexes? — By what methods should candidates for professional training be 
selected? — What should be the training of teachers? — What provision 
should be made for growth in service? — Why does the teacher occupy a 
unique position in controlling the evolution of society? 


What position would the teacher occupy in an ideal so- 
ciety? Writing in the year 1619, Johann Valentin Andreae 
gives the following description of those to whom was dele- 
gated the responsibility of teaching the youth in the ideal 
state of Christianapolis: 


Their instructors are not men from the dregs of human society 
nor such as are useless for other occupations, but the choice of all 
the citizens, persons whose standing in the republic is known and 
who very often have access to the highest positions in the state. 
For surely, no one can properly take care of the youth, unless he is 
also able to discharge the duties of state; and he who succeeds with 
the youth, has thereby already established his right to serve in 
governmental affairs. The teachers are well advanced in years, 
and they are especially remarkable for their pursuit of four virtues: 


574 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


dignity, integrity, activity, and generosity. For if they are not 
successful with their scholars and disciples and are not highly 
valued by the public; if they do not excel others in reverence toward 
God, uprightness toward their neighbor, and in firmness and mod- 
eration in their own lives, and are not an example in virtue; if they 
do not give evidence of skill, wisdom, and the highest power of 
judgment for instruction and education, as well as a recognition of 
crises in the natures of their pupils; if they do not prefer to spur their 
charges on as free agents with kindness, courteous treatment, and 
a liberal discipline rather than with threats, blows, and like stern- 
ness; if these are not their ideals as instructors, then the citizens of 
Christianapolis do not deem them worthy of organizing this min- 
iature republic, the successor of the greater, nor of being intrusted 
. with the very substance of their future safety.! 


This is the ideal picture; but is it a picture of the current 
social estimate of the teacher? 

What position does the teacher occupy in American so- 
ciety? Writing almost three centuries later in the year 1911 
Coffman, in summarizing a nation-wide study of the public 
school teacher, thus deseribes those who are actually engaged 
in teaching the youth of the world’s greatest republic, a 
state that surpasses all others in its material prosperity and 
its faith in the efficacy of education: 


The typical American male public school teacher ... is twenty- 
nine years of age, having begun teaching when he was almost 
twenty years of age after he had received but three or four years of 
training beyond the elementary school. In the nine years elapsing 
between the age he began teaching and his present age, he has had 
seven years of experience and his salary at the present time is $489 ? 
a year. Both of his parents were living when he entered teaching 
and both spoke the English language. ‘They had an annual in- 
come from their farm of $700 which they were compelled to use to 
support themselves and their four or five children. .. . His first ex- 


1 Andreae, Johann Valentin, Christianapolis. Tr. by F. E. Held, p. 207. 

2It should be noted that this study was completed before 1911. The 
salary figures here presented must, therefore, be interpreted in terms of the 
value of the dollar at that time. 


THE TEACHER 575 


perience as a teacher was secured in the rural schools, where he re- 
mained for two years at a salary of $390 per year. He found it 
customary for rural school teachers to have only three years of 
training beyond the elementary school, but in order for him to ad- 
vance to a town school position he had to get an additional year of 
training. He also found that in case he wished to become a 
city school teacher two more years of training, or six in all be- 
yond the elementary school, were needed... . His salary increased 
rather regularly during the first six years of his experience, or until 
he was about twenty-six years of age. After that he found that 
age and experience played a rather insignificant part in determining 
his salary, but that training still afforded him a powerful leverage. 

The typical American female teacher is twenty-four years of 
age, having entered teaching in the early part of her nineteenth 
year when she had received but four years’ training beyond the 
elementary schools. Her salary at her present age is $485 a year. 
She is native born of native born parents, both of whom speak the 
English language. When she entered teaching both of her parents 
were living and had an annual income of approximately $800 which 
they were compelled to use to support themselves and their four or 
five children. ‘The young woman early found the pressure both 
real and heavy, and anticipated to earn her own way. As teaching 
was regarded as a highly respectable calling and as the transfer 
from the school room as a student to it as a teacher was but a step, 
she decided upon teaching. ... Her first experience as a teacher 
was gotten in the rural school where she remained but two years. 
If she went from there to a town school promotion was based al- 
most solely upon her experience as no additional training was re- 
quired by the officials of the town. If she desired to teach in a city 
school, she was compelled to secure at least one more year of train- 
ing in all, but each additional year of training she found increased 
her salary. . . . So far she has profited each year of her brief experi- 
ence by having her salary increased and this will probably be true 
for the next two years should she find it necessary to remain in 
teaching that long.! 


How must this picture be interpreted? That Coffman is 
speaking in this passage of the public school teacher should 


‘Coffman, L. D., The Social Composition of the Teaching Population, 
pp. 79-81. 


576 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


be explicitly stated. Although an investigation of the 
teachers found in non-public schools would im all probability 
reveal a situation resembling very closely that which he de- 
scribes, his generalizations, derived from a random selection 
of those teaching in the public schools, do not apply to pri- 
vate schools. Moreover, since about six out of every seven 
teachers in the public schools are working in the elementary 
field, the picture which he draws is that of the elementary 
school teacher. Furthermore, owing to the great number of 
rural schools, the very poorly equipped rural teacher is the 
basic ingredient in determining the character of the teaching 
population in the United States. In a very real sense he 
who has charge of the rural school is the typical American 
school teacher. Yet, because of the wide range in capacity, 
training, and compensation represented within the profes- 
sion, it is somewhat misleading to speak of the typical Amer- 
ican school teacher. In the city the condition of the pro- 
fession is much better than in the country; and on the higher 
levels of the educational system its status is much more 
favored than in the lower schools. As a rule, the college or 
university instructor is highly selected and relatively well- 
trained. But in this discussion attention must be focused 
primarily on that great body of teachers on whose shoulders 
rests the responsibility of providing the educational op- 
portunities for the great masses of the people during the 
earlier years of life. 

What is the professional status of teaching to-day? In 
spite of the description of the public school teacher pre- 
sented in Coffman’s study, no one could bring the charge to- 
day that the ranks of the teaching profession are recruited 
from “the dregs of human society.” The status of the 
teacher has improved in no small measure since the days of 
Andreae. Nevertheless, we have traversed but a short dis- 
tance on the read to the ideal set forth by this early human- 


THE TEACHER 577 


ist. While it is true that our teachers “are not men from 
the dregs of human society nor such as are useless for other 
occupations,” it is equally true that they are not “the choic- 
est of all the citizens, persons whose standing in the republic 
is known and who very often have access to the highest 
positions in the community.” Those who are intrusted with 
the discharge of this basic social function are simply not 
carefully selected from the standpoint of either native gifts 
or acquired powers. Their most ardent champion could only 
claim that they reflect somewhat favorably the varied qual- 
ities and conditions of the population. For the most part, 
they are of limited background, of mediocre capacity, of nar- 
row cultural attainments, and without professional training. 
In many instances they are immature boys and girls whose 
sole motivation is financial necessity and whose chief quali- 
fication is the buoyancy and eagerness of youth. They 
possess no grasp of the meaning of education, no technique 
for the realization of educational purposes, no genuine inter- 
est in the work of the teacher, and no serious expectation of 
finding a career in the profession. An indifferent society has 
permitted the function of teaching to become a temporary 
means of livelihood for those who are in a state of vocational 
indecision; it has allowed teaching to become a source of 
revenue for impecunious young men and women contemplat- 
ing law, medicine, politics, business, or matrimony. 

How is the present status of teaching to be explained? 
The explanation of this anomalous status of teaching is not 
difficult to discover. Whatever advance the present shows 
over the past, education remains to-day a most primitive and 
unappreciated calling. Neither the teacher nor the citizen 
has adequate regard for the service actually rendered by the 
school, much less an adequate conception of its possibilities 
in bringing relief to man’s estate. In spite of the ease 
and regularity with which a hypocritical public kneels at its 


578 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


shrine, education is not regarded by the controlling powers of 
an industrial society as a charge of first-rate importance. If 
the needs of education come into conflict with the demands 
of military armament or the narrower interests of commer- 
cial enterprise, education seldom emerges triumphant. In 
case of a fuel shortage the schools are among the first estab- 
lishments to be closed down by official order, and when there 
is a demand for economy in public expenditure education is 
not the last to have its budget pruned. Notwithstanding the 
extraordinary growth of the school, education is still looked 
upon as a marginal instead of a focal concern of life. In 
their more amiable moments, with their heads in the clouds, 
“practical”? men are fond of saying that the teacher renders 
to the state a service of infinite worth, but at other times, 
with their hands in their pockets, they refuse that material 
support which would give substance to their avowed faith. 
When it comes to the test the actual confidence which the 
public places in education is sadly limited. One important 
reason for this neglect of education is that the returns on the 
educational investment are deferred. Man is proverbially 
improvident. He places an excessive valuation on the pres- 
ent and trusts that the future will care for itself. The de- 
mands of to-day are insistent and real, while those of to- 
morrow are remote and unsubstantial. Mankind seeks 
some less laborious and less tedious path to salvation than 
that which education can either promise or afford. 

Another cause of the low repute attaching to formal edu- 
cation is that the ordinary citizen has never been made to 
realize its wider functions. He regards education merely as 
a means of abolishing illiteracy, he considers literacy an end 
in itself, and he never senses the larger purposes for which a 
population must be literate. He has never been brought to 
see the absolute dependence of social life on the language 
arts and the essential contribution which these arts make to 


THE TEACHER 579 


effective and happy participation in the great human ac- 
tivities of health, family, industry, citizenship, recreation, 
and religion. He has failed to see how the teaching of the 
tools of knowledge has helped to bring into existence a world 
demanding an education which will guarantee more than 
literacy. Obviously, if education means nothing more than 
the mastery of the language arts, important as such an 
achievement is, the enlistment of the services of “the choice 
of all the citizens” in the performance of this task would be 
a seriously wasteful dissipation of a people’s energy. The 
teaching of the tools of knowledge, though a complicated 
process, may be reduced to a routine which can be followed 
-by a person of decidedly mediocre gifts. If this alone is the 
teacher’s work, the type of individual who serves society 
in this capacity to-day, provided he be somewhat better 
trained, probably represents the wisest and most economical 
utilization of the man-power of the state. Really superior 
talent must be reserved for the most important and difficult 
tasks of the nation. 

Why must the status of teaching be raised? But, if what 
has been suggested in this volume, or any important part of 
it, is sound educational and social doctrine, the present sit- 
uation is deplorable. We have insisted throughout that 
public education must break the bonds that have bound it 
to the narrow program of abolishing illiteracy. We have 
maintained that the scope of education should be commen- 
surate with the needs of man in his effort to adjust himself 
to his environment. ‘The program which we have outlined 
aims to conserve the social heritage by embodying in the 
lives of children those values which have been sifted from 
the experience of the race; it aims to bring a more abundant 
life to the great masses of mankind that march in the ranks 
of the Great Society; it aims to give to the individual and to 
the group the power of continuous growth and the ability 


580 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


to reconstruct experience. But, in the absence of those 
teachers who alone are able to give it reality, this program 
must remain a figment of the imagination. The burden is 
altogether too heavy to be borne by those who preside over 
the schools to-day. This task, which is the most difficult 
and fundamental! of all social tasks, cannot be performed by 
individuals who are merely capable of following a routine. 
Those to whom the educational function is delegated should 
be carefully selected and thoroughly trained; they should be 
the equal of any professional group found within the state. 
The ideal of Andreae is none too high for an enlightened 
society to set up for the body of citizens to whom it entrusts 
the training of its youth. 

How can the status of teaching be raised? If the status 
of the profession of teaching is to be raised, adequate provi- 
sion will have to be made for both selection and training. 
This suggests the two major problems about which the rest 
of this discussion will revolve. How should those who are 
qualified by nature to carry the heavy burdens of teaching 
be selected from the younger generation? And after selec- 
tion, how should they be trained? Although some have 
been inclined to minimize either the one problem or the 
other, both are of great importance. In certain quarters one 
is sure of winning applause by saying that teachers are born 
and not made, while in others one secures approbation by 
reversing the statement. In teaching, as in any other 
complex calling, talent is indispensable, but talent alone 
is sterile. This whole controversy suggests confusion of 
thought and a condition of primitive ignorance regarding 
the process of teaching. Although selection must take place 
prior to training, no attempt will be made here to discuss 
the comparative merits of these two questions. ‘They are 
merely two aspects of a single problem. But since the need 
for selection is peculiarly insistent at present, and since a 


THE TEACHER 581 


minimum of training is always certain to be provided either 
before or during service, chief attention will be given to the 
problem of recruiting a higher level of capacity for the pro- 
fession. 

How are the ranks of the teaching profession recruited? 
The selective process which operates to-day in determining 
the character of the teaching profession is unanalyzed and 
unintelligent. For the most part, the only selection pro- 
vided is that which oceurs automatically as individuals with- 
out guidance pass through the educational system. ‘The 
barriers which guard the occupation at the lower levels are 
formidable only to the mentally defective or the criminally 
minded. Students who do not reach the low standard 
of intellectual attainment required by those who employ 
teachers are of course excluded from the profession. Like- 
wise those of doubtful moral character are eliminated. 
But, as a general rule, young men and women who offer 
themselves for teaching, if they are able to meet certain 
formal requirements which make very limited demands on 
either capacity or training, are gladly accepted. The ex- 
planation of this fact is simple. The profession of teaching 
holds but little attraction for the youth of this generation. 
Few are called; so most of them must be chosen. Only from 
the ranks of those who desire to teach can selection be made. 
This suggests the fundamental question upon which the 
fortune of the profession and the future of education rest: 
How can a larger number of young persons of exceptional 
gifts be induced to look with favor on teaching as an attrac- 
tive vocational choice? This is the supreme question in the 
field of education to-day. Until it is clearly answered in 
theory and until this answer is expressed in social and educa- 
tional practice, the regeneration of the work of the teacher 
will be quite impossible and the problem of training will be 
of secondary importance. The educational fields are white 
unto harvest, but acceptable laborers are few. 


582 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


What constitute the attractions of a profession? Teach- 
ing must be made so attractive that it will rival those other 
callings which are drawing more than their share of talent - 
to-day. But what are the particular features which make a 
calling attractive to youth’ of the type needed in the enter- 
prise of education? What does teaching lack which other 
callings possess? Some, and they are vocal to-day, reflect- 
ing the bias of a commercial age, would answer at once that 
the complete solution to the problem is to be found in in- 
creased pecuniary rewards. While this is undoubtedly an 
important factor in the situation, the question is by no 
means entirely a financial one. No such simple answer is 
possible. In fact, the problem is so complex that a complete 
solution is not available. But in order to make clear the 
major issues involved, we may well direct attention to the 
following five factors which contribute to the attractiveness 
of any calling: (1) adequate financial remuneration, (2) op- 
portunity for doing creative work, (3) freedom of thought 
and action, (4) social recognition, (5) high professional 
sense. Each of these will now be considered as it relates to 
the occupation of teaching. 

How is the status of teaching dependent on financial re- 
muneration? In the first place, the financial rewards of 
teaching should be sufficient to facilitate the proper and 
efficient discharge of the duties of the calling. It must not 
be forgotten that life, even the life of a teacher, has its ma- 
terial basis. To function in the classroom even the most 
refined spirit must maintain a corporeal existence! Com- 
pensation must be sufficient to provide the necessities of life. 
It should be adequate to encourage that long and expensive 
training necessary for thorough preparation; it should be 
generous enough to insure a modicum of leisure for con- 
tinued growth in study and travel; it should be sufficient to 
provide insurance against unemployment, sickness, and old 


THE TEACHER 583 


age. In the name of justice such modest remuneration 
should be guaranteed all workers, but in the interests of 
efficiency it must be furnished the teacher. Only as these 
material needs are met will the teacher be relieved from 
worry over extraneous matters and be wholly set free for the 
performance of his task. All of these are legitimate de- 
mands that the teacher, in the social as well as in his own 
interest, must make on the community. The penurious 
treatment accorded the profession in so many quarters 
greatly retards the development of education and does seri- 
ous injury to the common good. 

The function of pecuniary rewards, however, in elevating 
the profession of teaching has very definite limitations. 
This fact must be clearly recognized. ‘The rise to power of 
the commercial classes has tended to foster the delusion in 
the minds of many that the dollar is the master key which 
unlocks every door. The view is commonly accepted that, 
if high ability is not lavishly remunerated, it will betake it- 
self to quarters where such remuneration is forthcoming. 
While this notion perhaps makes a nearer approach to truth 
to-day and in America than ever before, because of the fash- 
ion to associate success with money making, it contains seri- 
ous error. Through the current distortion of values many 
within the teaching profession, particularly at the higher 
levels, seek money not for the immediate reward of its pos- 
session, but because of the social approval and general com- 
munity prestige attaching to financial success. ‘The com- 
plex question of human motivation cannot be answered 
by a simple economic formula. By nobler motives and by 
diverse summons are the energies of men called forth. To 
make material compensation a primary rather than a sec- 
ondary consideration in the profession of teaching would be 
a grave mistake. The teacher should neither be paid so 
niggardly that his economic condition will be a source of con- 


584 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


stant anxiety, nor yet with such munificence that he will be 
tempted to transfer his allegiance from his work to the ac- 
cumulation of worldly goods. He should be so remunerated 
that the question of remuneration may always remain a 
marginal interest. The school is not run for private profit, 
and such a motive is not congruous with its purposes. To 
amass wealth is not and never should be the great object of 
teaching: no one with such an interest should be encouraged 
or even permitted to engage in the professional work of 
education, for however well equipped he may be to promote 
some commercial enterprise, he is totally unfitted for the 
task of the teacher. Human, and not material, interests 
must be dominant in the school. 

How is the status of teaching dependent on opportunity 
for doing creative work? In the second place, if superior 
talent is to be drawn into the work of teaching, education 
must come to be recognized as a source of power in society. 
The school must be rescued from the tradition of playing a 
passive role in the social order and must be dedicated to the 
tradition of positive service. This institution has the un- 
enviable reputation of always being acted upon and of never 
initiating action, of following respectfully and humbly, and 
at a safe distance, those forces which are perpetually refash- 
ioning the world. It has conserved, but seldom created; it 
has obeyed, but seldom commanded. There is consequently 
a persuasion abroad that the work of education is not suf- 
ficiently difficult to engage the energies of a really virile 
mind. ‘The aims of the school have been too restricted and 
colorless to challenge the attention of the more gifted and 
vigorous members of the coming generation. By raising the 
standards of financial compensation a certain type of indi- 
vidual can be attracted to the calling, but unless opportunity 
is provided to engage in great creative work the highest 
forms of ability will seek opportunity elsewhere. ‘The truly 


THE TEACHER 585 


ambitious man wants to accomplish, to bring about some 
change in the world in which he lives, and he chooses those 
occupations in which this is possible. Education must 
therefore be defined in terms of its unlimited potentialities 
in directing the course and rate of social advance. Young 
men and women must be brought to realize that the school 
occupies a strategic position in society and that it provides — 
the fullest opportunities for the expression of their own 
powers. ‘They must envisage the school as a powerful in- 
strument forged by society to grapple with the great prob- 
lems of mankind; they must see that through this instru- 
ment placed in their hands they can create the better world 
of to-morrow. ‘They must recognize that in education there 
is always an element of adventure, an element of difficulty, 
an element of hardship. To follow the vision of education, 
to grasp its purposes, to sense its values, to perform its 
labors, requires the rarest insight, the most delicate appre- 
ciation, and the highest fortitude. 

How is the status of teaching dependent on freedom of 
thought and action? In the third place, if education is 
to become a positive force, the teacher must be accorded 
greater liberty of thought and action. Society must see 
to it that this liberty is securely guaranteed. At present 
the teacher is hampered at every turn by restrictions, pro- 
hibitions, and directions. Narrow and petty bounds are 
often set to both personal and professional conduct. His 
tenure of position is insecure and he is often dismissed in 
arbitrary fashion. ‘The primary sources of these restraints 
and tyrannies are the community and the administration. 
The former has usually reserved to itself the right, by inter- 
fering at any point in the process of education, to enforce its 
will in arbitrary fashion. Oftentimes, to be sure, this dis- 
turbing factor is not the entire community, or even a major 
part of it, but rather some powerful and active minority 


586 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


which presumes to speak for the whole. That the commu- 
nity should give the teacher a free rein to work his own will 
on the school is, of course, not to be expected. Such a. 
practice would be impossible of realization and certainly un- 
desirable from many standpoints. ‘The contention is rather 
that there is a certain field of activity upon which the educa- 
tional layman should never trespass. Through its repre- 
sentatives society should register its opinion on broad educa- 
tional policies and purposes, but the teaching staff should be 
given wide liberties in realizing these purposes and in putting 
these policies into operation. Peculiarly pernicious in un- 
dermining the morale of the teaching profession is the tend- 
ency in many communities for aimless busybodies to pass 
upon the private hfe and opimions of teachers. These 
self-appointed custodians of good taste and public morals 
are so numerous and so divergent in their demands that the 
teacher in order to avoid their censure is constrained to 
iead a vapid, spiritless, and spineless existence. Teachers 
are ordinarily denied the most elementary rights of citizen- 
ship. Freedom from these stifling influences will come only 
as members of the profession, by rendering exceptional 
service, make clear their title to public confidence and, 
through organization into powerful societies, guard the 
broader public as well as the narrower professional interests. 
Only through their own efforts will teachers emancipate 
themselves from the arrogant domination of narrow and un- 
scrupulous forces and attain that security of tenure which is 
the sole foundation of freedom. | 

In recent years, because of the development of our great 
systems of education, this question of freedom has mani- 
fested new aspects and has grown particularly acute. This 
development may be traced to the growth of cities and the 
tendency towards centralization within the various states. 
Wherever a large system of schools comes into existence the 


THE TEACHER 587 


problem of preserving the freedom of the individual teacher 
becomes urgent. ‘The administration of such a system, 
through which many may work together in the attainment 
of educational ends, requires minute specialization and dif- 
ferentiation of function. In meeting the demands of this 
situation educational administrators have borrowed heavily 
from the experience and practice of large scale industry. 
Much authority in the determination and execution of pol- 
icy has been placed in the hands of the administrative and 
supervisory staff. To the members of this staff the chief 
opportunities for creative work have been given and their 
status has been exalted over that of the teacher. Under this 
form of organization the rank and file of teachers are often 
expected to display the passive virtues and slavishly follow 
the directions of their superiors. In many instances training 
institutions, by emphasizing narrow devices and procedures, 
have fostered this conception of the teacher’s work. 
Fairness demands the observation, however, that at this 
point cause and effect are rather inextricably interwoven. 
This limitation of freedom has in some measure been the 
necessary product of the character of the teaching force. 
The schools are manned largely by immature and untrained 
teachers who have no great interest in teaching and who 
plan to leave the profession when opportunity offers. To 
individuals of this type little authority and few respon- 
sibilities can be delegated. But, if gifted young men and 
women are to be drawn into the educational service, this 
situation must be changed. By elevating their own qualifi- 
cations and by demanding greater freedom in the control of 
special educational procedure teachers alone can break the 
vicious circle. Under ideal conditions the teachers of a 
school or of a school system would through conference, visit- 
ation, and discussion formulate the wider policies of their 
own institution. Each would then be expected to choose 


588 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


and adapt ways and means for the execution of these policies. 
Only in the degree that this condition is achieved will teach- 
ing assume the characteristics of a profession. 

How is the status of teaching dependent on social recogni- 
tion? In the fourth place, the teacher must be accorded a 
higher social status than he is given to-day. ‘The public 
must be taught to feel a keener appreciation of the impor- 
tance of the work of the educator. This enhancement of 
social prestige is not to be distinguished rigidly from the 
three conditions already discussed. In the social mind it 
is the product which flows from the establishment of these 
conditions. As the latter are fulfilled, as the financial com- 
pensation, power, and freedom of the teacher are increased, 
the social status of teaching will be raised. ‘This social ap- 
praisal of the community, however, is so important a factor 
in our problem that it deserves separate attention. Any 
consideration of the compensations of a vocation cannot 
neglect the intangible rewards of public esteem. Compensa- 
tion is by no means entirely pecuniary. In fact one might 
very cogently maintain the position that, given the min- 
imum financial compensation necessary to provide the 
physical necessities and simpler comforts of life, the non- 
material rewards of a calling are more alluring than the 
material. Man isa social creature, and there are few things 
which he prizes more highly than the favor of his fellows. 
In the study of the growth of personality the point has been 
stressed repeatedly that much of human behavior can be 
understood only in terms of effort to secure approval and 
avoid disapproval. The high competition for wealth to-day 
is due largely to the social prestige attaching to its accumula- 
tion. As every page of human history shows, youth will 
make the greatest sacrifices, it will endure the severest hard- 
ships, it will even “dice with death,” to secure the plaudits 
of the multitude or to gain the commendation of the elect. 


THE TEACHER 589 


Social approval can glorify any task, and its force must be 
brought into the service of education.! 

How is the status of teaching dependent on a high profes- 
sional sense? In the fifth and last place, the schoolmaster 
must place a high value on his own calling. Unless the 
teacher himself is convinced of the worth of his service, soci- 
ety is not likely to value it highly. Here perhaps is the key 
to the solution of the problem. At least, this is the point at 
which initial effort should be concentrated in bringing the 
profession to that level of excellence which the achievement 
of educational purposes requires. ‘Teachers must cease to 
show embarrassment when caught in the act of teaching, 
they must discontinue the practice of apologizing for the 
work in which they are engaged, they must no longer feel 
flattered when mistaken for bankers, lawyers, merchants, or 
politicians, they must resolutely refuse to be a party to the 
disparagement of their own profession. They must display 
something of the courage and faith which, during the darkest 
hours of the struggle for public education in Massachusetts, 
moved Horace Mann to write: 


Neglected, lightly esteemed among men, cast out, as it were, 
from the regards of society, I seem to myself to know that the 
time will come when education will be reverenced as the highest of 
earthly employments. That time I am never to see, except with 
the eye of faith; but I am to do something that others may see it- 
and realize it sooner than they otherwise would.” 


1 Not only must the teaching profession as a whole be accorded a 
high social status, but within the calling opportunity must be provided for 
rendering really distinguished service and such service must be commen- 
surately rewarded. At present teaching suffers because recognition and ad- 
vancement are too intimately dependent on years of service rather than on 
meritorious achievement. In education a limited number of prizes must be 
offered which will compare favorably with the finest prizes provided in the 
other occupations. Unless teaching can give overt recogniiion of a high 
order to exceptional achievement, the competitive feature which is a strong 
factor in the vocational appeal will not operate to call into the ranks of the 
profession individuals of extraordinary gifts. 

2Mann, Mary; Life of Horace Mann, p. 121. 


590 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


That teachers do not place a high estimate on their calling 
is suggested by the casual way in which they enter it, by the 
aspersions which they cast upon it, and by the readiness 
with which they leave it. They have had so little faith in 
their own work that they have made no consistent effort to 
acquaint their pupils with the place and function of educa- 
tion in American society. In the teaching of history and 
civics, for example, although the growth and nature of the 
various social institutions constitute the basic subject-mat- 
ter of these courses, the attention given to the development 
and function of education has been most unenlightened and 
perfunctory. In a country that has made such significant 
contributions to the evolution of educational institutions as 
has the United States, this neglect is most culpable. When 
those engaged in the work of education are blind to its social 
meaning and its unrivaled opportunities for service, young 
men and women who have been under the influence of these 
persons through childhood and adolescence can hardly be 
expected to view education itself in proper perspective or 
look with favor on teaching. 

How is the teaching profession in a strategic position for 
elevating its own status? ‘This last point requires some elab- 
oration. ‘The members of any other calling, finding them- 
selves caught in the meshes of a complex industrial society 
and driven by the unseen forces of tradition and circum- 
stance, might with reason feel helpless to improve their con- 
dition and feel forced to accept as inevitable the existing 
social evaluation of their occupation. But in the task of de- 
termining the character and destiny of their own profession 
teachers occupy a uniquely strategic position. Through 
their hands the entire population moves to occupational de- 
cisions. ‘Their values may become the values of their pupils. 
If they do not impress their charges with the importance of 
education, they have only themselves to reproach. A sys- 


THE TEACHER 591 


tematic attempt should be made to give to the members of 
the younger generation an elementary knowledge of the evo- 
lution of our educational system, a sympathetic account of 
the struggles and ideals of our educational leaders, an appre- 
ciation of the benefits which are received from the school, 
and a realization of the great social function of education. 
Through these means teachers must definitely encourage 
gifted students to enter the profession and as definitely dis- 
courage the recruiting for education of the untalented and 
incompetent. 

What two special issues arise regarding financial com- 
pensation? Having now examined the five major factors 
which determine the attractiveness of teaching, we may 
turn our attention to two questions bearing more directly on 
the problem of financial compensation. These must be 
considered in any discussion of the means to be employed in 
attracting talent into the profession. First, how should the 
more tangible rewards of teaching be adjusted to the differ- 
ent divisions of the educational system? Should those who 
teach children be less highly compensated than college in- 
structors? Second, how should these rewards be adjusted to 
the sexes? Should women receive the same compensation 
as men? ‘To an examination of these two questions the at- 
tention of the reader will now be directed. 

How should compensation be adjusted to the different 
levels of the educational system? Consider first the ques- 
tion of adjusting rewards to the several divisions of the edu- 
cational system. Customarily secondary school teaching 
is remunerated more highly than elementary, and college 
teaching most highly of all. Since the compensation even 
in the higher schools is meager, since nowhere is the re- 
muneration more than sufficient to satisfy the simpler eco- 
nomic wants, the consequences of this practice are obvious. 
The more talented and the better trained teachers are at the 


592 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


higher levels of the system; they are engaged in teaching the 
more mature and the more highly selected portion of the 
school population. Also the tradition is fostered that pro- 
motion means advancement from a lower to a higher division 
of the system, from the teaching of children to the teaching 
of adolescents, and from the teaching of adolescents to the 
teaching of youth. Hence the teacher who is fitted to 
work with one age level is frequently stimulated to under- 
take a less congenial task in the teaching of older children. 
This discrimination in favor of those teaching in the higher 
schools is due in part to certain educational misconceptions 
resident in the popular mind and in part to the superior de- 
mands made on both capacity and training at the upper 
educational levels. 

According to a common belief, which is rooted in Amer- 
ican educational tradition, a young and inexperienced girl, 
though confessedly unqualified to train the more mature 
mind, is adequately equipped to guide the process of learning 
in its more elementary phases. This notion is apparently 
based upon the assumption that education is largely a matter 
of school keeping, that it is more physical than intellectual. 
To the uncritical observer, who merely reflects the influence 
of bad educational practice, the teacher requires but two 
qualifications. First, he must be able to keep order, to ad- 
minister punishment, to enforce discipline as a physical 
achievement. A very young and feeble person may dis- 
charge these duties with the pupils of the primary grades. 
~ Second, the schoolmaster must know more than the pupil 
of the subject-matter to be taught, or be more facile than 
he in the skill to be learned. Obviously, for very young 
children, a quite stupid and ignorant person may meet this 
requirement. In so far as intellectual attainments have re- 
ceived consideration, knowledge of subject-matter has been 
the chief criterion for the selection of teachers; and, since 


THE TEACHER 598 


the child’s knowledge in any field is highly circumscribed, it 
has been assumed that the knowledge of the teacher need 
be only less meager. But this conception of the nature of 
education is inerror. Discipline is not essentially a physical 
achievement, and knowledge of subject-matter is but a part 
of the teacher’s equipment. ‘The distinctive work of the 
teacher, especially of the teacher on the lower educational 
levels, is concerned with the learning process, and not with 
the mastery of some body of specialized knowledge. As the 
child advances from level to level in the educational system, 
he should gradually acquire the power to direct his own 
learning and become independent of the guidance of the 
teacher. Thus, if the work of the lower schools is effective, 
the instructor in the higher schools can give less attention to 
the learning process and can specialize more fully on sub- 
ject-matter. The equipment of the elementary school 
teacher, though different from that of the college instructor, 
should under ideal conditions be equally thorough. To 
guide the child of six in his first steps of formal education is 
probably no less difficult than to instruct the university 
student in the more abstruse portions of the higher curric- 
ulum. Moreover, the quality of this early education is of 
great importance in determining the direction of intellectual 
and moral growth. ‘The thesis should not be difficult to 
maintain that the current severe discrimination against the 
teachers on the lower educational levels is without final 
justification. 

At the present time, however, superior demands on talent 
and training are necessarily made in the higher schools. 
That it is as difficult to provide the ideal environment for 
the early education of the child as to teach differential equa- 
tions to the college student is undoubtedly true, but to-day 
much less is known about the child than about differential 
equations. The development of mathematics is well ad- 


594 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


vanced, whereas our knowledge of the nature of the child 
and the conditions that promote its growth is in a primitive 
state. Moreover, there are probably certain types of work, 
usually required of university teachers, such as research and 
the direction of research, that will always demand the best 
talent in the profession. But, as there accumulates a body 
of professional knowledge that requires for its mastery and 
application greater talent and more thorough training, the 
rewards which accompany teaching in the lower grades 
should approach those attached to secondary and college in- 
struction. This principle, and this principle alone, is the 
sound basis for equality of compensation. 

How should compensation be adjusted to the sexes? The 
second, and closely related, question of sex discrimination 
may now be considered. In the salary schedule of the 
school, men are commonly favored above women. Many, 
thinking in terms of certain abstract conceptions of social 
justice and disregarding the needs of education, maintain 
that this discrimination should cease immediately. They 
demand “equal pay for equal work.” The ideal back of this 
agitation commands the sympathy of all, but before it is 
adopted as a practical program in our present economic 
system, its probable effects on education should be con- 
sidered. 

One of the outstanding characteristics of the teaching 
population in the United States is its large percentage of 
women. ‘Ihe process of feminization has gone so far that 
men have practically disappeared from the elementary 
schools and constitute but one third of the teaching force in 
the secondary institutions. Because the teaching profession 
was one of the first occupations of reasonable respectability 
outside the field of household interests to be opened to 
women, they have crowded the field of education. With 
the growth of a highly complex civilization and the evolu- 


THE TEACHER 595 


tion of many new callings of professional grade, there has 
been greatly increased competition for men possessing the 
talents and attainments required in teaching. At the same 
time the intellectual emancipation of women has proceeded 
somewhat more rapidly than new occupational opportu- 
nities have been won by them. ‘The inevitable consequence 
of these two tendencies has been the feminization of teach~ 
ing. 

Let us now return to the question.of equal compensation. 
In recent generations teaching has become progressively less 
attractive for men and progressively more attractive for 
women. If the popular slogan of the feminist movement 
quoted above were now enforced, the tendency would be to 
drive men yet more completely from the profession. But, 
if there were no fallacy in this slogan when applied in the 
realm of education, the passing of the male teacher would 
be no cause for serious concern. However sound may be the 
doctrine that the work of a female clerk is equal to that of a 
male clerk, it is very misleading to make the corresponding 
statement in the field of teaching. While, owing to lack of 
experimental evidence and differences in educational phi- 
losophies, no one can speak with absolute certainty on this 
point, there is some reason for assuming that in achieving 
certain of the more subtle aims of education the contribution 
of a woman, though equal in value, is unlike that of a man. 
In the teaching of arithmetic or grammar the one sex may be 
just as effective as the other, but in the development of at- 
titudes, ideals, and appreciations the situation may be quite 
different. In all probability there are certain educational 
values which require the efforts of either the one sex or the 
other, or possibly of both working together in certain pro- 
portions. Until the contrary is clearly proved, effort should 
be made, particularly at the secondary-school level, to at- 
tract and hold gifted men in the profession. 


596 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


If the one sex cannot do the work of the other, if the con- 
tribution of each is in a measure unique, it is folly to talk of 
“equal pay for equal work.” In the economic sense, the 
sense in which the slogan is here used, there is no equality of 
work. If men are needed, women cannot be substituted. 
The converse of this statement is equally true, and would be 
stressed if the representation of the sexes were reversed. The 
principle of equality of compensation, at any rate in our 
present order of society, can hardly promote the achievement 
of the purposes of education. Equality of compensation in 
teaching will gradually come as other fields of economic op- 
portunity which are closed to-day are opened to women, but 
the premature application of this principle would merely 
increase the representation of women within the calling. 
Where men ave required, compensation must be raised to 
the level that will permit them to enter the profession. 
This is not discrimination in favor of or against either sex, 
but rather the shaping of policy in the light of educational 
needs and the existing economic order. 

By what methods should candidates for professional 
training be selected? Ifthe conditions which have been out- 
lined in the foregoing pages have been so far achieved that 
men and women of superior gifts are attracted to the field of 
education, there remains the problem of selecting those most 
capable of discharging the duties of the teacher. Schemes 
which are designed to select primarily on the basis of ac- 
quaintance with certain fields of subject-matter must be dis- 
carded in favor of tests of capacity. Acquaintance with 
subject-matter is necessary, but provision for this should be 
made after the individual is selected for teaching and not 
before. Through the use of intelligence tests and early 
school records, and through the study of personality traits, 
individuals must be rigorously selected for the training 
school. The student population of the high school should 


THE TEACHER 597 


be diligently searched for teaching talent. When this talent 
is found, if the economic condition of the prospective student 
makes financial assistance necessary, the state should sub- 
sidize his training. Only by some such positive program can 
we hope for the advancement of the profession of teaching. 

What should be the training of teachers? After their 
selection these individuals must be given that training which 
is the necessary equipment of teachers. Since this is a prob- 
lem of professional education, and since this form of educa- 
tion has been already discussed at length, the question of 
teacher training will not be given detailed consideration 
here. ‘There are four guiding principles, however, which 
should be followed. First, the prospective teacher should be 
given as broad a general education as possible. Preferably 
this education should be of the type outlined in the dis- 
cussion of the college of liberal arts. Primary emphasis 
would be placed on giving the student broad human interests 
and sympathies and a thorough understanding of the nature 
of man and of society. ‘The subject-matter would be drawn 
largely from biology, psychology, and the social sciences, 
from literature, art, and philosophy. Second, following 
the general course he should be required to concentrate his 
efforts on the special subject or group of subjects to be 
taught. The extent and thoroughness of this training 
should depend on the character of the teaching position for 
which the student is preparing. Third, he should be made 
familiar with that special body of knowledge which centers 
about the learning and teaching processes. The extent and 
worth of this field of science, while sadly limited to-day, is 
being gradually increased. Through the efforts of those en- 
gaged in educational research and experimentation this body 
of professional knowledge may ultimately rival in both 
amount and precision that employed in the training of the 
physican or the industrial engineer. ‘To its development 


598 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


and refinement the energies of a measure of the finest talent 
of the profession must be dedicated. Fourth, under super- 
vision and guidance he should acquire the more elementary 
skills of the art of teaching. Only through actual participa- 
tion in the activities of the school can this practical technique 
be mastered. 

What provision should be made for growth in service? 
Through the fourfold training here outlined the student may 
be prepared to begin the work of teaching, but as yet he is 
only anoviceintheart. After the young teacher has entered 
upon his career the process of training must continue. 
Through summer school, sabbatical year, educational meet- 
ing, professional reading, school visiting and travel, pro- 
fessional growth must be insured. But the major burden 
must fall upon the supervisory staff. ‘The members of this 
staff, chosen primarily because of their knowledge of educa- 
tion and their capacity for leadership rather than because 
of their ability to police and inspect, should be the source 
of educational guidance and counsel within the school. 
Through them the teacher should be stimulated to search out 
and grapple with his problems and to gain increased mastery 
over the technique of his profession. Only by teaching 
under such stimulation can he gain that mastery of self and 
procedure which is characteristic of genuine professional 
service. Only through his own continuous growth will he 
retain the power of stimulating boys and girls to an ever 
deeper appreciation of the life of man and nature and of 
guiding them into an intelligent participation in the ways of 
society. 

Why does the teacher occupy a unique position in control- 
ling the evolution of society? In concluding this discussion 
we should observe again the breadth of the potential domin- 
ion of the teacher. All thoughtful men agree that the pos- 
sibilities of education are without practicable limit. These 


THE TEACHER 599 


possibilities are co-extensive with man’s capacity to progress. 
The teacher, and he alone of all the workers within the state, 
could make the world over within a single generation. But 
the achievements of education are directly dependent on the 
creative energies, the training, the discipline, and the ideals 
of the teaching profession. The position which this pro- 
fession may ultimately assume in society can be limited only 
by the powers of its own members. Never was America in 
greater need of that regenerating influence which can flow 
only from a purified intellectual leadership. If a fair meas- 
ure of our people’s talent can be directed into teaching, a 
calling which in its very nature is dedicated to the promotion 
of the intellectual and moral interests, from this profession 
might come the necessary leadership. The frontier has 
played an important réle in the history of America and has 
attracted many of her boldest and most original spirits. The 
physical frontier has gone, but in another sphere the frontier 
remains. ‘There is a cultural frontier which will never dis- 
appear, a frontier which widens as it is pushed forward. On 
this frontier are found the outposts of man’s endless struggle 
against ignorance and superstition, the advance guard of the 
quest after truth and power over nature and self. On this 
frontier a highly selected and adequately trained teaching’ 
force must take its stand and lead each succeeding generation 
to a more advanced position. 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


1. Show how the status accorded the teacher to-day is but a measure of 
the misconception of the strategic place which education occupies as a 
social force in the community. 

2. To what extent does the status of the teacher reflect the lowly origin 
of the calling? 

3. What social and economic forces have been responsible for the femi- 
nization of the teaching profession in America to a degree quite un- 
known in other parts of the world? 

4. From the standpoint of the education of adolescent boys and girls, 


600 


Sa 


10. 


11. 


12. 


PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


what are the weaknesses of the accepted slogan of the feminist move- 
ment, “‘equal pay for equal work’’? 

What effect may the extension of wider economic opportunities to 
women have upon the composition and remuneration of the teaching 
profession? 


. Criticize the statement that a serious concomitant of the feminization 


of the teaching profession in America has resulted in the delegation of 
the teaching function into the hands of individuals who lack the hu- 
manizing experience of normal family lie. 


. How may the realization on the part of society that the primary 


function of education is not the perpetuation of literacy but rather the 
reconstruction of social life, be expected to alter the composition of the 
teaching force? 


. To what extent is the method of administration of the American 


public school system calculated to destroy that initiative and freedom 
in the teaching force which are essential to good teaching and the ele- 
vation of the profession? 


. Why has society made no systematic effort to give to its youthful 


members an adequate comprehension of the great social function ren- 
dered through education? What effect would definite instruction in 
the secondary schools and colleges on this subject have upon the gen- 
eral attitude towards education? 

What may be said for and against the organization of teachers for the 
purpose of collective bargaining and general protection of what they 
regard as their own interests? 

What arguments can be used for and against the affiliation of teacher 
organizations with labor unions? 

What would be the effect on the composition of the teaching profession 
if the colleges of the country embarked on the definite program 
of clearly presenting to their better students the unrivaled opportu- 
nities for self-expression and social service which the career of the 
teacher affords? 


PROBLEM 25 


HOW SHOULD SOCIETY SUPPORT AND CONTROL 
EDUCATION? 


Why is the educational enterprise a basic social responsibility? — What are 
the two aspects of this responsibility? — What two policies has society fol- 
lowed in the support of education? — Why cannot society rely wholly on 
private enterprise for the support of education? — Upon what theory is the 
public support of education to be justified? — How may public support of 
universal education be justified? — What is the defensible theory for the 
public support of selective education? — To what extent is public education 
free? — What should be the unit of support? — How should the burden of 
taxation be distributed? — What should be the guiding principle in the con- 
trol of education? — How has education been controlled in the past? — Is 
the day of private enterprise over? — What are the dangers of public con- 
trol of education? — How may the interests of public education be endan- 
gered by “politics”? — How may the interests of public education be en- 
dangered by powerful minorities? — How may the interests of public edu- 
cation be endangered by the limitations of the ordinary citizen? — How 
may the interests of public education be endangered by the weaknesses of 
the political state? — What restraints should be placed on the public con- 
trol of education by the state? — How should educators regard private en- 
terprise? — How should educators regard the centralization of control? — 
How should educators regard the freedom of the teacher? — What atticude 
should society take towards academic freedom in colleges and universities? 
— What is the social purpose of education? 


Why is the educational enterprise a basic social responsi- 
bility? To shape educational policy is to guard the path 
that leads from the present to the future. Whether men 
fearful of the unknown and satisfied in their enjoyment of 
privilege have opposed change, or whether men restless in 
bondage and suffering under tyranny have craved change, 
they have, irrespective of their different conditions and 
needs, recognized the power of education and have sought 
to enlist this force under their conflicting banners. Through 
education diverse peoples have been knit together into a 


602 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


single nation, through it powerful governments have been 
overthrown, and through it religions and philosophies have 
been spread among men. ‘Throughout the centuries since 
special educational agencies were first established, the 
strategic position of the school has been appreciated by 
kings, emperors, and popes, by rebels, reformers, and 
prophets. Hence, among those opposing forces found in 
all complex societies, a struggle for the control of the school 
is always evident. Every group or sect endeavors to pass 
on to its own children and to the children of others that 
culture which it happens to esteem; and every privileged 
class seeks to perpetuate its favored position in society by 
means of education. By withholding, as well as by extend- 
ing, the opportunities of education the ruling classes have 
paid tribute to its power. In a democracy an institution 
that contributes so much to the formation of public opinion 
is clearly of fundamental importance. Under a despotic 
form of government it occupies an equally strategic position. 
Indeed the enlightened and discerning autocrat has found 
it more economical and more effective to subsidize schools 
than to maintain police. In varied fashion has education 
been manipulated to serve ulterior ends. The history of the 
school and the present-day situation both reveal the impor- 
tance of the problem which concerns itself with the social 
responsibility for education. 

What are the two aspects of this responsibility? There 
are two aspects of this social responsibility which must be 
clearly recognized and separately considered. There is, on 
the one hand, the question of support, and, on the other, 
that of control. Although control may seem to be the 
natural concomitant of support, comparative education 
clearly proves that this relationship is by no means inevi- 
table. Under despotisms peoples are forced to maintain 
educational systems in determining the policies of which 


SUPPORT AND CONTROL OF EDUCATION _ 603 


they have no voice; and under free governments, because of 
faith in the virtues of an unfettered education, an enlight- 
ened citizenship may voluntarily surrender a measure of 
control. Only an education operating under a minimum 
of external control can reflect the dynamic nature of social 
life, and make the school an effective agency in modifying 
and ameliorating the old social order. Furthermore, as 
the process of education becomes more complex and more 
dependent on expert guidance, authority must be increas- 
ingly delegated to selected individuals with special training. 
Moreover, support is regarded as a burden to be tolerated, 
whereas control is esteemed as an instrument to be prized. 

What two policies has society followed in the support of 
education? In the support of education, society has in 
varying measure followed two policies. Education has been 
supported either through private or public enterprise. By 
leaving the maintenance of schools to the initiative of 
individuals, families, philanthropic societies, religious sects, 
lay associations, commercial interests, and social classes 
society has always to a certain degree pursued a laissez faire 
course. Under this policy the necessary funds are secured 
from voluntary contributions, collections, assessments, 
endowments, and fees. At other times, the support of edu- 
cation has been regarded, at least in certain of its phases, as 
a matter of public concern. This practice is particularly 
common in western society to-day. By bringing compulsion 
to bear on the recalcitrant members when necessary a levy 
is placed on the resources of the entire community through 
taxation. A brief consideration of the first of these policies 
will be sufficient, while, because of its wide adoption in the 
modern world, a more detailed examination of the second 
is necessary. 

Why cannot society rely wholly on private enterprise for 
the support of education? Private initiative has played a 


604 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


large réle in the development of educational institutions. 
For centuries the extension of educational opportunities was 
almost completely in the hands of the church. Whether 
the motive was that of equipping the individual to read the 
Bible or that of spreading particular religious doctrines, the 
responsibility was borne by the ecclesiastical authorities. 
Even after the appearance of state interest in education 
the work of private agencies continued. Because under 
free governments the rate of advance in public enterprise 
can never exceed the rate of popular enlightenment, even 
democratic societies have been constrained to rely on pri- 
vate initiative. Having demonstrated the efficacy of formal 
education in the rearing of their own children, particular 
favored individuals and groups, possessing an uncommon 
measure of understanding, idealism, and courage, have 
sought to extend corresponding privileges to the masses. 
The need and worth of education were first proved on a 
small scale by sects and classes, and the earliest steps toward 
the extension of educational opportunity to the masses of 
the people were taken by individuals and societies of philan. 
thropic purpose. Governments probably would never 
have concerned themselves with the establishment of great 
systems of schools, if their value had not been clearly proved 
by far-sighted and altruistic men and women who dared to 
experiment and who possessed the resources for experimen- 
tation. A large proportion of the new ventures in education 
have been financed by private means; and there is no good 
reason why this form of support, at least for the promotion 
of certain types of educational endeavor, should not be 
utilized to the full. All channels for the support of educa- 
tion should be kept open. But private initiative and volun- 
tary effort are restricted in their purpose and are inadequate 
to meet the vast need for education in the complex life of 
to-day. In the absence of collective support there would 


SUPPORT AND CONTROL OF EDUCATION _ 605 


necessarily be great gaps in the extension of educational 
opportunities to the masses. The scale on which the work 
must be done and the social spirit which must animate it 
transcend the limits of private enterprise. 

Upon what theory is the public support of education to be 
justified? In the whole field of social economy there is prob- 
ably no principle that is more generally accepted than that 
of the public support of schools. In all modern nations 
education is thought so important that the extension of 
some kind of formal instruction to all classes of the popula- 
tion is insured by the use of funds drawn from the public 
treasury. What is the explanation of this public concern? 
On what grounds may the public be called upon to provide 
educational opportunities for the children of all the citizens? 
In recognition of what principle may the rich be taxed for 
the education of the poor, the Jew for the education of the 
Gentile, or the Catholic for the education of the Protestant? 
Finally, in accordance with what law of equity may the 
citizen without children be required to share the burden of 
educating the children of others? As governments and social 
philosophies change, the answers to these questions vary. 
The reasons given for the public support of schools in an 
autocracy are radically different from those offered in a de- 
mocracy. Further, among any people or under any govern- 
ment the theory that would justify public expenditures for 
education must vary with the type of school. Thus the 
theory that would serve as a basis for the support of elemen- 
tary education through taxation might be quite inapplicable 
to secondary, college, or professional education. Let us 
therefore pass to an examination of the theory that lies 
back of the public support of the various forms of education 
in a democratic society or a society that is striving towards 
democracy. 

Can the same theory of support be applied to both uni- 


606 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


versal and selective education? Although the different 
forms and levels of education are many, for the purposes of 
this discussion they may all be brought under two catego- 
ries. In this way the analysis will be both clarified and. 
shortened. Education may be either universal or selective in 
its incidence. Up to a certain point in the educational system, 
or up to a certain age in the life of the child, by the passage 
of compulsory legislation the community aims to secure com- 
plete attendance at school. Beyond this point, due to the 
operation of various forces, education becomes increasingly 
selective. This continues until, in the higher years of the 
university, there is enrolled but the merest fraction of the 
young men and women of suitable age. For the most part, 
universal education covers but the first eight years of formal 
schooling. Elsewhere in this volume we have maintained 
that education should be made practically universal and 
that all children should remain in school from six to eighteen. 
But the scope of this form of education is not the question 
for consideration here. ‘The significant fact is merely that 
in the more highly developed countries to-day there is a 
longer or shorter period of education which is provided for 
all, and that following this period the selective principle 
operates in increasing measure at the successive levels. 
Obviously theories of public support which may be suited 
to the one form of education are not applicable to the other. 

How may public support of universal education be jus- 
tified? The use of public moneys for the extension of some 
measure of education to all the children in a democracy is 
not difficult to justify. This problem therefore will receive 
but limited consideration. Such a practice may be defended 
in terms of either an individualistic or a collectivistic phi- 
losophy, in terms of either individual or social welfare. Ina 
democratic society the ideal of providing for all children 
equality of opportunity, regardless of conditions of birth, is 


SUPPORT AND CONTROL OF EDUCATION 607 


rightly cherished. Since education is in itself one of the 
greatest opportunities and is at the same time a force that 
levels artificial inequalities due to other causes, it logically 
follows that the community which holds to egalitarian social 
doctrines is under obligation to provide a degree of education 
for all. At least, to the extent that it is not provided by 
private means it should be furnished by society. In adjust- 
ing himself to the complexities of the modern social order, 
the individual finds that the assistance of some formal edu- 
cational agency is indispensable. In fact this order, as it 
exists to-day, is the direct product of an ever-widening exten- 
sion of educational advantages during the past few centuries. 

This suggests the social basis of the public support of uni- 
versal education. If society is to survive, even in the imper- 
fect state in which we know it in this generation, the work of 
the school must continue. In a political democracy, since 
the ultimate source of sovereignty resides in the ordinary 
citizen, the necessity for education is perhaps most obvious 
in the performance of the narrower civic functions. Free 
governments, recognizing this source of sovereignty, have 
usually sought to educate the masses of the population. 
But it is rapidly becoming clear that individual happiness 
and the social welfare in its economic and recreational, as 
well as in its civic aspects, is directly dependent on the appre- 
ciations, intelligence, and good will possessed by the rank 
and file of the members of society. These needs, essentially 
educational in their nature, constitute the social justification 
of providing a measure of universal education at public 
expense. 

What is the popular justification for the public support 
of selective education? In the case of selective education, 
however, the argument for public support is much less obvi- 
ous. Up to the point that education is universal, up to the 
point that it is provided for and adapted to all, there is no 


608 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


discrimination for or against any individual or class. All 
receive equal favors from the public treasury. The case 
for the taxation of all for the support of this form of educa- 
tion seems clear. But beyond the limits of universal educa- 
tion the problem assumes a different aspect. The number 
of students progressively diminishes in the higher levels of 
the system, and, because of the operation of various geo- 
graphical, sociological, and psychological factors, education 
becomes increasingly selective. At present the higher edu- 
cational opportunities are extended primarily to those young 
people living near our high schools and colleges, to those 
belonging to the more favored social classes, and to those 
possessing superior native gifts. Since the burden of taxa- 
tion is not always borne by those who pay the taxes, but 
to a degree by the ultimate consumer of goods and services, 
this means that the fortunate are enjoying educational 
privileges which the unfortunate are helping to provide. 
While many of the injustices of the present social order may 
be expected to disappear, and while the extension of higher 
educational opportunities may become less contingent on 
the influence of fortuitous circumstance, it nevertheless 
remains true that there will always be some measure of 
selective education and that its recipients must be provided 
with the necessary leisure and security. Under what con- 
ditions may the general public be called upon to bear this 
burden? Since the public support of selective education is 
to-day taken for granted and is commonly justified on the 
same grounds as the public support of universal education, 
this question requires the most explicit and unequivocal 
answer. 

The doctrine of equality of opportunity cannot be brought 
into service in answering this question. Beyond the point 
of universal attendance, education necessarily involves the 
unequal treatment of individuals by society. In no way 


SUPPORT AND CONTROL OF EDUCATION _ 609 


can an ego-centric philosophy justify the practice of provid- 
ing at public expense sixteen to twenty years of education 
for some and only eight to twelve for others. It is, to be 
sure, speciously argued to-day that equality of opportunity 
really means extending to the individual as many years of 
education as will be profitable to him. Apparently there is 
an assumption that the ordinary individual is educable 
during but a comparatively few years of his life; but this 
assumption begs the question. The available evidence sug- 
gests that there is no absolute limit set by nature to educa- 
bility. This argument further assumes that society, com- 
posed for the most part of ungifted persons, is under some 
obligation, for reasons not mentioned, to provide superior 
educational advantages for the gifted. The ancient dictum, 
“To him that hath shall be given,” is accepted as adequate 
justification for favoring the favored. Education will have 
to probe much deeper to discover a defensible cory for the 
public support of selective education. 

What is the defensible theory for the public support of 
selective education? In a system of schools maintained 
through public taxation the only justification for unusual 
attention to any group is to be found in the return that soci- 
ety may expect from such an investment. This principle 
must be applied to the higher education. The community is 
in need of various services that demand special talent and 
training; it must have leaders in its social, political, and eco- 
nomic life; it must have lawyers, doctors, teachers, chemists, 
and engineers, artists, poets, prophets, and seekers of truth. 
Provision for the training of these leaders and specialists is 
necessary, not only for the achievement of further social ad- 
vance, but even for the conservation and utilization of our 
present human heritage. Not that particular classes or in- 
dividuals may be raised to positions of privilege and oppor- 
tunity, but rather that it may secure needed services, does 


610 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


society tax itself for the maintenance of various forms of 
selective education. The community feels that through this 
selective expenditure on particular individuals the common 
good will be advanced. Through the higher schools society 
is not seeking to bestow gifts on superior individuals; it is 
making an investment through which its more permanent 
interests are guarded and upon which its very existence 
hangs. : 
What emphasis in higher education does this theory 
involve? If this social investment is to be most productive, 
two conditions must be met. In the first place, a continual 
search must be conducted on the lower educational levels 
for individuals possessing those special and superior quali- 
ties of mind and heart which will respond most easily and 
completely to the advanced opportunities which society 
provides. Interest in the gifted child is not justified on the 
grounds that he has any natural right to special privileges, 
but rather in the conviction that by providing for his con- 
tinued education the community makes the best possible 
disposition of its resources.!. An enlightened and humane 
society will not continue to repeat the greatest of all social 
blunders. It will not continue to neglect its richest resource, 
the abilities of all its members; it will not draw on talent 


1The above statement should be supplemented by directing the atten- 
tion of the reader to the fact that the satisfaction of intellectual curiosity 
for its own sake, quite apart from any return which it may make to society, 
is in the last analysis a recreational activity. It should be noted, however, 
that intellectual curiosity can hardly exist without making a social return. 
Only as an individual possessing this trait is completely insolated from his 
fellows, can it be entirely barren of social value. In the artist, in the seeker 
after truth, provided his influence is felt, provided he participates in the 
common life, there is the ideal and complete reconciliation of the individual 
and social interest. Manifestly, such a creative spirit, regardless of his 
attitude towards the community, is of great social worth. Said Frederick 
the Great on recalling Wolff from banishment: “‘A man that seeks truth, 
and loves it, must be reckoned precious in any human society.’’ 


SUPPORT AND CONTROL OF EDUCATION 611 


only as talent appears in certain respectable quarters; it 
will not tolerate barriers which make it difficult for the gifted 
individual to force his way to recognition. In the second 
place, these individuals of superior gifts to whom exceptional 
privileges are extended must be imbued with a deep feeling 
of social obligation. As society puts into their hands the 
technique and insight provided by the higher education, 
it relinquishes control over its destiny and gives itself in 
bondage to its own children. We have been prone to 
consider an educated man, a man who has enjoyed special 
educational advantages, as necessarily an asset to his com- 
munity. We have assumed that, regardless of the manner 
in which he directs his energy, he will be a social benefactor. 
This view is obviously in error. Every time an individual is 
graduated from high school, college, or university deficient 
in the feeling of social obligation, a dangerous person is 
turned loose to prey upon his fellows. Only too often to-day 
the higher educational institutions, whose support is ulti- 
mately derived from the sacrifices and savings of the 
masses, produce the anti-social or at least the narrowly 
social mind. Many who have been favored with superior 
educational advantages, without feeling of shame, seek 
sheltered callings and positions of ease. Clearly the use of 
public moneys for the support of a selective education that 
is regarded by its recipient as a right to which he is entitled, 
as an opportunity for self-aggrandizement quite shorn of 
its social significance, is wholly indefensible and immoral. 
Those who attend the higher schools are the trustees of 
society. They should consequently be taught to recognize 
the serious nature of the obligations which they assume on 
entering these institutions. Only as a feeling of social 
responsibility is inculcated, only as special service is ren- 
dered the common man, can the public support of this form 
of education be Justified. 


612 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


To what extent is public education free? In the foregoing 
discussion the term support has been used as if it always 
carried a definite and constant connotation and as if it 
always existed in a single measure. ‘This is an over- 
simplification to which a correction must now be applied. 
Public support may be provided in varying degrees; it may 
be either partial or complete. Wherever communities have 
seen fit to carry educational burdens, the provision for the 
total maintenance of the individual under instruction has 
never been made. In the United States what is known as 
free education is probably extended to the people on a larger 
scale than in any other great country; yet there are many 
who, especially at the higher levels, because of financial 
limitations, do not attend the schools. This condition sug- 
gests that where public schools exist the entire cost of edu- 
cation is not borne by the community. Public support of 
education usually means merely public provision of school 
buildings and teachers. Education means leisure; and since 
leisure is an expensive luxury for the individual who has 
reached the age of possible economic productivity, this con- 
stitutes but a part of the cost of education. Hence, in no 
small measure advanced educational opportunity is contin- 
gent on the financial circumstances of the family. How far 
society should go in providing maintenance allowances for 
the children of the poor in order to free them from the handi- 
caps of birth is to-day an unsettled point. But, if we have 
sufficient intelligence and courage to make the most of the 
biological resources of our people, steps in this direction will 
have to be taken until the present economic inequalities are 
removed. It must suffice, however, to raise the problem 
and to point out that in recent generations the scope of 
public interest in this field has been continually widened 
and that the limits to community action in this direction are 
by no means set. 


SUPPORT AND CONTROL OF EDUCATION _ 613 


What should be the unit of support? If the contention be 
granted that some measure of both universal and selective 
education should be provided at public expense, there 
remains the fundamental and practical question of the 
equitable distribution of the burden of taxation. This ques- 
tion naturally divides itself into two parts. °First, how 
large should be the political unit from which a particular 
school derives its support? And second, how should this 
burden of support be distributed within this unit? The 
uncritical answer to the former question is that the support 
of a school should obviously come from the area which it 
serves. This seems nothing more nor less than simple 
justice; yet, because of the great inequalities in the distribu- 
tion of wealth from community to community, and because 
of the difficulty of determining in our highly integrated 
society the precise limits of the service rendered, this does 
not constitute a wholly satisfactory solution. Within every 
state may be found relatively rich and poverty-stricken 
neighborhoods, side by side. According to a federal report 
for 1918, the amount of taxable wealth for each pupil in 
school varied greatly among the states, ranging from but 
slightly more than $2500 in Mississippi to almost $40,000 
in Nevada. In the interest therefore of equalizing educa- 
tional opportunity it has been suggested that the unit for 
support should be as large as possible, perhaps embracing 
the entire nation. This again seems inadvisable. Relieving 
the local community, as it undoubtedly would, of all direct 
responsibility for the maintenance of education, it would 
at the same time undermine popular interest in the schools. 
Perhaps the wisest policy is to follow a middle course and 
distribute the burden of support over the local community, 
the state, and the nation. Without destroying local interest 
and initiative this would insure some measure of equaliza- 
tion of educational burdens and opportunities. 


614 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


How should the burden of taxation be distributed? The 
second part of the question, which pertains to the distribu- 
tion of the burden of support within the unit or units taxed 
for school purposes, is the center of much attention to-day. 
In the past the major source of revenue has been real prop- 
erty. Because of great changes during the last century, the 
old forms of taxation have become ill-adapted to existing 
conditions. A hundred years ago the ownership of real es- 
tate was a fairly reliable index of “ability to pay” and 
was therefore an equitable basis for the levying of taxes. 
But, with the rise of the present complex economic order 
with its far-reaching associations and subtle relationships, 
property has assumed many novel and intangible forms 
which fall quite outside the incidence of the tax on real 
estate. Moreover, income, from which all revenue must be 
derived, is less clearly dependent than formerly on property 
ownership. ‘The only solid basis for the support of schools 
is the social income, regardless of the type of property or 
service from which it is derived; and, if the educational pro- 
gram is to undergo the expansion which has been suggested 
in these pages and which is so plainly required by the needs 
of modern life, our methods of taxation will have to be radi- 
cally altered. The social income must be taxed wherever it 
may be found. 

What should be the guiding principle in the control of 
education? Having examined the question of support, we 
come now to a consideration of the closely related problem 
of control. Of all the problems that crowd the field of edu- 
cation there is probably none that is of greater importance 
and more difficult of solution. Upon the nature of those 
forces that control the schools the character of educational 
policy depends. Upon these forces rests the ultimate respon- 
sibility for the kind of education provided and for the results 
that flow from the efforts of teachers. The aims of educa- 


SUPPORT AND CONTROL OF EDUCATION _ 615 


tion, however clearly conceived, are impossible of realiza- 
tion, unless they can be translated into practice in the 
schools, and the key to the door of the school is always in the 
possession of some constituted authority. This question of 
control demands the closest attention; and the answer 
offered must be formulated, not in the light of any a-priort 
principle regarding the relation that a community should 
. sustain towards its schools, but rather with a view to achiev- 
ing the fundamental purpose for which schools are main- 
tained. This fundamental purpose is to render the largest 
possible service to the individual and society. Since the 
school can have no ulterior aim, the great object of control 
should be that of promoting education. The form which 
control takes should be determined with the single purpose 
of achieving this object. 

How has education been controlled in the past? As in 
the case of support, the primary agencies for the control of 
education have been private. For centuries practically all 
the schools of the western world were under the control of 
the church. In more recent times social classes and great 
philanthropic societies have determined the course of edu- 
cation. For the most part the object of these efforts has 
been that of either preserving and spreading some particular 
set of doctrines or perpetuating special privilege and the 
ascendance of a favored class. In other instances, however, 
private enterprise has been broadly humanitarian in its 
outlook and has led the way in promoting both educational 
and social progress. As we have suggested in an earlier 
paragraph, if the worth of the school had not been clearly 
demonstrated through this courageous experimentation, it 
is doubtful if, on its own initiative, the state would have 
undertaken the task of organizing a system of education. 
Moreover, since the public established its first schools, the 
improvement of materials and methods has depended in no 
small measure on private effort. 


616 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


Is the day of private enterprise over? At present 
American society is apparently so thoroughly convinced 
of the importance of education that it has developed a great 
system of public schools which reaches into every com- 
munity. The state is also maintaining in many places 
special agencies for experimentation in which current theory 
and practice are being carefully tested in the light of the 
findings of educational science. Certain critics are therefore 
contending that, however valuable private enterprise has 
been in the past, its contribution in this field has been 
achieved. They would urge that all private schools be 
closed. This raises the question: Should all educational 
effort in a democracy be brought completely under the 
control of the state? Before attempting an answer to this 
question, the nature and defects of public control as it has 
functioned in actual practice may well be considered. 

What are the dangers of public control of education? 
Throughout the western world the principle is commonly 
accepted to-day that the control of education is essentially 
a function of the state. Whether the form of political organ- 
ization is autocratic or democratic, the government is ulti- 
mately responsible for determining educational policy. Of 
course, the state may, as it often does, delegate a portion of 
its authority to non-public agencies. The concern of this 
discussion, however, is primarily with the fortunes of the 
school as it is directly administered by the community, 
and as its policy and program are formulated and modified 
by the representatives of the state. In the United States 
the public control of education is customarily secured 
through different types of boards — local, town, county, 
and state. ‘These boards are composed of members chosen 
in various ways and responsible either directly or indirectly 
to the people. While this method has genuine merits in 
giving to the masses of the people some control over their 


SUPPORT AND CONTROL OF EDUCATION 617 


education, merits which we should be the last to discount, 
there are, notwithstanding, certain shortcomings which 
should be passed in brief review. 

How may the interests of public education be endangered 
by “politics”? In the first place, there is constant danger 
that the educational interests will be subordinated to poli- 
tics and the fortunes of politicians. Whoever is honestly 
and deeply concerned about the welfare of the school, 
whether his path leads him into the country, the village, 
the city, or the state capital, is certain to have the heart- 
breaking experience of seeing some promising educational 
program sacrificed to the personal ambitions of an office- 
seeker. Again and again the very machinery which society 
has created for the purpose of guarding and promoting the 
educational interests becomes an instrument for hampering 
the work of the schools. 

How may the interests of public education be endangered 
by powerful minorities? In the second place, powerful 
minorities, while presuming to speak for the common good, 
may by gaining control of boards of education advance 
their own selfish interests. Thus the schools become centers 
of propaganda through which some class or sect pleads a 
special case or willfully distorts the picture of the world that 
is passed on to the coming generation. Charges are made 
to-day, and probably with a fair measure of truth, that, be- 
cause of the extraordinary power exercised by vested inter- 
ests over those directly responsible for the administration of 
the schools, our educational institutions serve to perpetuate 
with all of its injustices the existing economic order. That 
this will always take place to some extent in any social order 
may reasonably be expected. The management of the 
affairs of society will usually be delegated to those who have 
been successful in the world as it is and who are consequently 
prejudiced in its favor. This fundamental bias in the con- 


618 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


trol of education is revealed by a study of the social compo- 
sition of boards of education in our states and cities and the 
boards of trustees of our colleges and universities. These 
bodies are made up almost exclusively of representatives of 
the more fortunate classes; and, although many individuals 
will strive earnestly to formulate educational policy in the 
light of the needs of all classes, the great majority will quite 
uncritically identify the whole of society with their own 
particular group. 

How may the interests of public education be endangered 
by the limitations of the ordinary citizen? In the third place, 
from the nature of the case, the ordinary individual suffers 
from such limitations in his knowledge of education that 
he is very inadequately equipped to participate in the shap- 
ing of educational policy. It is largely for this reason that 
forces of corruption and powerful minorities, driven by self- 
interest and consciously aggressive for their own ends, are 
able to secure control of the schools and violate a great 
social trust. Students of politics are becoming increasingly 
and painfully aware that good will, unaccompanied by 
knowledge and insight, is not equal to the task of bearing 
the heavier burdens of government. Students of education 
are also coming to realize that education is an exceedingly 
intricate enterprise which must be left in large part to those 
who are especially selected and trained for the task. The 
ordinary citizen in a democracy must be taught that, while 
it is his duty to become informed about and to contribute 
to the evolution of the wider educational policies, the 
detailed prescription and execution of programs must be 
left to specialists. Efforts which are being made to-day in 
legislative halls and through oratorical display to determine 
the content of courses in biology, hygiene, and social science 
are tragic, as well as ludicrous. In the field of education, as 
in other realms of collective activity, there must be devel- 


SUPPORT AND CONTROL OF EDUCATION _ 619 


oped a wholesome respect for the man with specialized 
knowledge. 

How may the interests of public education be endangered 
by the weaknesses of the political state? In the fourth 
place, the political state, whatever the source of its power, 
is subject to all the ills which fall to the lot of men. Any 
institution which is created by men exhibits human weak- 
nesses. For the non-conformer, liberty may be as difficult 
to secure under free governments as under despotisms; and 
new ideas may be as unwelcome in a democracy as in an 
autocracy. ‘The tyranny of the majority is notorious. It 
is the blind and unreasoning, the compelling and oppressive 
tyranny of the herd. Furthermore, the interests that cen- 
ter in the national state are not the only interests of man- 
kind. Indeed, the thesis might be vigorously defended 
that these political ends are of far less importance than others 
which, because they are the common possession of mankind, 
transcend the boundaries of states. The point to be em- 
phasized is that, however valuable an instrumentality the 
existing political state may be in promoting the life of man, 
however serviceable it may be at a particular juncture in 
the evolution of human culture, it is only a means to an end; 
it is a tool to be used and not a divinity to be worshiped. 
In the control of education the state, even though com- 
pletely representative of a nation, is certain to commit the © 
grossest stupidities. ‘The most for which men may legiti- 
mately hope is that its errors will be only less costly than 
those of any other available agency. 

In order to show how in extreme instances the state may 
force education to support unintelligently the existing order, 
to inculcate social superstition, and to bar the way of human 
advance, an extract may be quoted from an address of 
King Frederick William IV of Prussia. Speaking before a 
national convention of normal school teachers in 1849, the 


620 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


year following the attempt at revolution, he reviewed the 
existing social situation, accused education of fomenting 
political unrest, and castigated the members of the teaching 
profession. He then proceeded to dictate the manner in 
which he would alter the educational system and supervise 
educational methods in order to prevent social change and 
further the interests of the monarchy. 


All the misery which has come to Prussia during the past year is 
to be credited to you and only you. You deserve the blame for 
that godless pseudo-education of the common people which you 
have been propagating as the only true wisdom and by means of 
which you have destroyed faith and loyalty in the minds of my sub- 
jects and turned their hearts away from me. Even while I was yet 
Crown Prince I hated in my innermost soul this tricked-out, false 
education strutting about like a peacock, and while I was Regent I 
made every effort in my power to overthrow it. I will go ahead on 
this beaten path without allowing myself to deviate from it. First 
of all, these seminaries, every one, must be removed from the large 
cities to small villages, in order that they may be kept away from 
the unholy influence which is poisoning our times. And then every- 
thing that goes on in them must be subjected to the closest super- 
vision. Iam not afraid of the populace, but my bureaucratic gov- 
ernment in which up to now [ have had proud confidence, is being 
undermined and poisoned by these unholy doctrines of a modern, 
frivolous, worldly wisdom. But as long as I hold the sword hilt in 
my hands, I shall know how to deal with such a nuisance.! 


While nothing so crude as this attempt at military coer- 
cion may be expected in democratic states, only a rash man 
would assert, in the light of our own experiences during the 
period of the Great War,’ that the popular majority, carried 
away in some moment of great excitement, might not follow 
as unenlightened a course as that taken by this feudal king 


1 Reisner, E. H.: Nationalism and Education since 1789, p. 162. 

2 Compare the banishment during the war period of German language, 
music, and culture from the schools of some of our largest cities in our most 
advanced states. 


SUPPORT AND CONTROL OF EDUCATION — 621 


of Prussia. The following statement, quoted from a letter 
issued by the School Board of Lancaster, Ohio, in 1828, 
shows the limited vision of public officials: 


You are welcome to the use of the school house to debate all 
proper questions in, but such things as railroads and telegraphs are 
impossibilities and rank infidelity. ‘There is nothing in the Word 
of God about them. If God had designed that His intelligent crea- 
tures should travel at the frightful speed of fifteen miles an hour 
by steam, He would clearly have foretold it through His holy 
prophets. It is a device of Satan to lead immortal souls down to 
hell. 


What restraints should be placed on the control of educa- 
tion by the state? Admitting that there are certain serious 
objections to the absolute and complete control of education 
by the state, we are faced with the practical question: Are 
there any restraints which may be placed on the political 
authority in this realm? To the writers there seem to be 
three ways in which the educational interest must be safe- 
guarded against the undue interference of the state. First, 
practically complete freedom should be given to private 
initiative in the promotion of different forms of educational 
enterprise; second, the centralization of educational control 
in the hands of federal authorities should be extremely care- 
fully watched and, in our opinion, vigorously opposed; and 
third, wide liberty of action, especially on the upper levels 
of the educational system, should be guaranteed the teacher 
in the discharge of his task. Let us now consider each of 
these proposals in some detail. 

How should educators regard private enterprise? Private 
schools may be divided into three large classes. First, there 
are those which are frankly experimental in their purpose 
and are being maintained largely for the purpose of test- 
ing educational theory and advancing educational science. 
The worth of this type of school is so generally recognized 


622 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


that it needs no defense. A wiser disposition of wealth 
which has accumulated in private hands would be difficult © 
to imagine. 

Second, there are many private schools, often of college 
grade, which are animated by a broad social spirit and which 
aim to provide superior educational opportunities of the 
conventional type. Such institutions, although usually 
drawing their students from the favored classes, relieve the 
public of certain educational burdens. Few would argue 
that these schools should be abolished. 

Third, there are schools, usually supported and controlled 
by sects and classes, whose primary object is the perpetu- 
ation of some philosophy of life or attitude towards the 
world which is not taught in the public schools. In this 
group would fall all denominational and parochial schools, 
most of the great private preparatory schools for children of 
wealthy parentage, and finally such institutions as the labor 
colleges which receive their support from labor organizations 
and aim to develop leadership for the working class. From 
many quarters to-day come sharp criticisms of these institu- 
tions and bills are being presented before state legislatures, 
sometimes with success, providing for their abolition. The 
sectarian schools are attacked in some instances on the 
grounds of promoting a foreign culture; the schools for the 
wealthy are said to be undemocratic in their sympathies; and 
the labor colleges are accused of spreading radical social and 
economic doctrine. With the purposes of some of these 
institutions we are not in accord, but we feel it would be a 
grave mistake to attempt to legislate them out of existence. 
Our attitude is much like that expressed by Voltaire in 
writing to his adversary Helvetius: “I wholly disapprove 
of what you say — and will defend to the death your right 
to say it.” The most pernicious of the existing educational 
agencies merely reflect the class organization of an undemo- 


SUPPORT AND CONTROL OF EDUCATION 623 


cratic society and are but symptoms of conditions that can 
be altered only by striking at those forces which lead to 
social stratification. We would further contend that liberty 
of thought and of conscience requires the granting of practi- 
cally complete freedom to any group of citizens to establish 
schools for the perpetuation of any set of doctrines sincerely 
held. That the teachings in such institutions are not anti- 
social in their character and are in accord with the spirit of 
the fundamental law of the land is of course assumed. 
Except to make certain minimum requirements regarding 
the teaching of those basic subjects which are necessary to 
life in a complex society, the state should not proceed in 
regulating the conduct of these schools. ‘The passing of 
private enterprise from the field of educational effort should 
not be forced by legislative enactment but should be the 
natural outcome of the improvement of the public school 
and the unification of the social order. 

How should educators regard the centralization of con- 
trol? The second safeguard against the exercise of arbitrary 
and short-sighted authority on the part of the state is the 
decentralization of control. If each of the forty-eight states 
is allowed that complete freedom of action in educational 
matters which is provided by the federal constitution, ideas 
of promise which are given a hostile reception in one state 
may be granted a favorable hearing in another. From the 
standpoint of the development of a democratic system of 
education this is without doubt the great merit of our federal 
system. Somewhere, sooner or later, advanced educational 
and social theories are almost certain of a trial. In this 
limited setting before they are given a wide adoption their 
worth may be proved. A richer field for educational ex- 
perimentation than exists in the American commonwealth 
would be difficult to find. Much freedom should also be 
allowed the local authorities, the cities, the counties, the 


624 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


towns, and the villages, in the control of education. The 
work of the state organization should be confined very largely 
to that of stimulating and harmonizing the growth of educa- 
tion within the state. At certain points, where the essence 
of the educative process is not at stake, standardization is 
desirable, but that bureaucracy which is the curse of many 
governments must be rigorously avoided. 

How should educators regard the freedom of the teacher? 
Finally, within the field of his specialty, the teacher must 
be given a large measure of freedom. ‘This is even more 
necessary to the promotion of the basic educational interests 
than the fostering of private initiative and the decentraliza- 
tion of control. Some have suggested that the formulation 
and development of educational policy should be placed by 
society entirely in the hands of teachers. Only in this way, 
so they contend, can the larger spiritual values be conserved 
in a society which at the moment is so completely dominated 
by the mechanisms of the economic and political life. Cer- 
tain it is that the present social order takes its standards of 
value from industry and the national state. But fairness 
demands that we recognize explicitly that the teaching pro- 
fession has given little evidence in the course of its history 
ef possessing the capacity to bear responsibilities of such 
magnitude. ‘Too frequently it has lived in a past age and, 
desiring only to be let alone and jealously guarding its 
vested rights, it has resolutely barred the way to educational 
advance. ‘The give and take between teachers and society 
is greatly to be desired. In the adoption of general policies, 
although the profession should always be in a strong position 
to make its voice heard on all educational questions, the 
public must cast the deciding vote. But the execution of 
these policies, once adopted, must be recognized as the 
peculiar province of the teacher into which the layman must 
not venture. 


SUPPORT AND CONTROL OF EDUCATION — 625 


The great problem in this connection is that of persuading 
the state to relinquish a portion of its control. In order to 
prevail upon it to do this the people must be convinced that 
the largest educational returns can be secured only as a 
wide measure of freedom is extended to those engaged in 
teaching. While the thorough organization of the profes- 
sion is necessary for the proper protection of its members, it 
must not be forgotten that in the last analysis the liberty 
which teachers enjoy will depend on the will of the com- 
munity. Hence, the first task is that of convincing the citi- 
zen that the more permanent interests of society will be 
guarded by placing large responsibilities on the teacher. 
The work of education is of such a nature that it can be car- 
ried on successfully only under a minimum of external con- 
trol. But the degree of freedom which we have advocated 
here can be extended to the profession only as the level of 
the ability and training of its members is raised. The 
point to be emphasized, as we have urged in the previous 
section, is that the teacher should be carefully selected and 
thoroughly trained, and then entrusted with the work of 
education. Since in a very real sense the teacher represents 
to a greater degree than the members of the school board the 
interests of the inarticulate members of society and of future 
generations, the training which he receives should emphasize 
the nature of the far-reaching obligations assumed. 

What attitude should society take toward academic free- 
dom in college and university? In the colleges and univer- 
sities especially must society grant to the teacher and the 
investigator the very largest degree of freedom. The case 
for academic freedom has perhaps never been stated more 
forcefully than in the bill on the general organization of 
public instruction which Condorcet presented to the Legis- 
lative Assembly of the French Republic in April of 1792. 
According to the provisions of this bill the educational sys- 


626 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


tem of the new republic was to be crowned by a National 
Society of Arts and Sciences which was to provide the high- 
est grade of education and exercise large powers of control 
over the rest of the system. The degree of freedom which 
Condorcet proposed for the members of this institution is 
thus described in the report: 


Freedom of teaching constitutes, in a way, one of the rights of 
the human race.... Since truth alone is useful and since every 
error is an evil, by what right would any power, no matter what it 
might be, dare to determine what is truth and what is error? A 
power which would forbid the teaching of an opinion contrary to 
that which has served as the basis for enacted laws, would attack 
directly the freedom of thought, would contradict the purpose of 
every social institution, namely, the improvement of the laws, 
which necessarily follows from conflicts of opinion and the spread 
of enlightenment. For that matter, the French Constitution 
makes such independence our rigorous duty. It has recognized 
that the nation has the inalienable and indefeasible right of re- 
forming all.its laws. ...The intention of the Constitution is that 
all the laws should be discussed, that all political theories should be 
allowed to be taught and opposed, that no system of social organ- 
ization should be offered to enthusiasm or to prejudice as the object 
of superstitious worship, but that all political beliefs and systems 
should be presented to reason as different possibilities among 
which she has the right to choose. ... Should we have in reality 
respected the inalienable independence of the people if we had per- 
mitted the government to fortify any particular system of belief 
_ with all the weight which universal instruction would give it; and 
would not the power which would arrogate to itself the right to 
choose our opinions have veritably usurped a portion of the na- 
tional sovereignty?” 4 


What is the social purpose of education? In concluding 
this discussion of the relation of society to the school we can 
do no better than to quote yet further from this remarkable 
document. In the following words Condorcet painted an 
impressive picture of the function and character of education 


1 Reisner, E. H.: Nationalism and Education since 1789, p. 22. 


SUPPORT AND CONTROL OF EDUCATION _ 627 


in a democratic society, a picture which, if slightly retouched 
in the light of the advance made in educational science, 
would stand to-day as a compelling social ideal. 


To offer to every individual of the human race the means of pro- 
viding for his wants, of insuring his well-being, of knowing and ex- 
ercising his rights, of knowing and fulfilling his duties. ... To in- 
sure to each the means of improving in his daily task, of making 
himself better fitted for the social function to which he may rightly 
be called, to develop the entire array of gifts which he has received 
at the hand of nature, and thereby to establish among the citizens 
an equality in fact, making real the political equality recognized by 
the law. .. . Such should be the predominant purpose of a national 
system of instruction, and, from that point of view, it is a fit func- 
tion for the state to undertake. ... 

To direct education in such a way that the perfection of the arts 
will increase the happiness of the people at large and the prosperity 
of those who labor; in such a way that an ever-increasing number 
of persons will become better fitted to perform the work necessary 
to our social existence; in such a way that progress, keeping step 
with enlightenment, shall open an inexhaustible source of supply 
for our wants, of remedies for our ills, and of the means of individ- 
ual happiness and common welfare. ...7To cultivate, finally, in 
each succeeding generation all the powers of body, mind, and con- 
science, thereby contributing to the comprehensive and gradual 
improvement of the human race —the final objective toward 
which every social institution should be directed....Such 
should be... the purpose of education; and it is a duty imposed 
upon the state by the common interest of society and of mankind.! 


ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 


1. To what extent has the growth of the experimental spirit in public 
education reduced the need for the private support of educational ex- 
perimentation through foundations, societies, and individuals? 

2. How do the differences in per capita wealth, the shifting of population, 
and the interrelationships of modern society, bear upon the problems 
of support? 

3. To what extent does control automatically follow support in educa- 
tion? 








1 Reisner, E. H.: Nationalism and Education since 1789, pp. 117-18. 


628 


= 


10. 


11. 


12: 


13. 


14. 


PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 


How do you explain the fact that the ordinary citizen, though unac- 
quainted with the larger educational issues, is, nevertheless, ever 
ready to issue final pronouncements on the most difficult questions of 
educational policy? 


. At what point should the line be drawn between the function of the 


ordinary citizen and the trained educational specialist in the formula- 
tion and achievement of educational purposes? 


. Do the social ideals which govern the ordinary college graduate in his 


occupational life justify expenditure of public funds for his education? 


. How far does the principle of equalization of educational opportunity 


demand that society should go in providing maintenance grants 
to students at the higher levels of education? Can the practice of 
“working one’s way”’ through college be regarded as a satisfactory 
and permanent solution of this problem? 


. To what extent is the support of private schools derived from the de- 


sire for ostentation and social differentiation on the part of individuals 
and families? 


. Is it possible for the educational institution to identify its program 


with the wider social interests, rather than with the interests of nar- 
row but powerful financial groups? 

How does the relatively complete reliance in America on the public 
school, by stereotyping the ideas and ideals possessed by the whole 
population, tend to promote a monotonous uniformity? 

In what respects does the source of support, whether public or private, 
place limitations on academic freedom in our colleges and universi- 
ties? In what subjects would this restriction of academic freedom 
manifest itself? 

In the private college and university, what is the nature of the interests 
dominating the alumni with respect to their alma mater, and what 
effect have these interests in determining the atmosphere and working 
ideals of the institution? 

In the determination of educational policy in the United States, what 
is the degree and nature of the influence exerted by each of the follow- 
ing interests — the farmer, industrial labor unions, financfal interests, 
the American Legion, the Army and Navy, the religious denomina- 
tions, the women of the country, the teaching force? 

If we assume that a degree of universal education is provided in both 
democratic and autocratic societies, what are the differences in motive 
and social philosophy underlying such apparently similar action? 


APPENDIX 


SUGGESTIONS FOR THE USE OF THIS TEXT 
IN INSTRUCTION 


SINCE an effort has been made in the construction of this book to 
follow a procedure which will expedite instruction, there need be no 
apology for directing the attention of the teacher to certain points 
of methodology. 

In the first place, Part One gives the wider view of education, and 
establishes the place of the formal agency in society. Moreover 
the second, third, and fourth problems of this part cover in a general 
manner the fields elaborated in Parts Two, Three, and Four. Thus 
the entire volume is given in epitome in Part One. The aim of this 
division is to orient the student. On this account he may have 
some difficulty with it and may feel it to be somewhat abstract. 
The teacher should therefore not demand too rigorous under- 
standing of this part at the first reading. The authors have 
found it serviceable to encourage the student to re-read this first 
division of the book at the close of the course. 

In the second place, the book is written around twenty-five 
major problems of education. Each of these larger problems is 
subdivided into a number of subsidiary problems. The object of 
this procedure is to stimulate thought on the part of the student. 
With this fact in mind the teacher will not be too harsh in his crit- 
icism of certain questions which are so wide in their scope that only 
incomplete answers can be offcred. The authors have found that 
these minor problems not only add zest to the discussion, but also 
constitute the framework of their teaching notes. 

In the third place, a number of additional problems close each 
section. ‘These questions are not mere echoes of the text, but are 
problems that we should like to have treated had space permitted. 
Many of these have actually arisen in classes where the materials . 
of this volume have been presented. Through these questions the 
teacher may expand the volume without limit. 

In the fourth place, at the discretion of the teacher, the technical 
material in Problem 7, which relates to language habits and the im- 


630 APPENDIX 


plications of the strictly mechanistic theory of behavior may be 
omitted. This can be done without impairing the integrity of the 
treatment, and for the immature student will undoubtedly be a 
wise procedure. Also the book may be shortened at certain places. 
Particularly, if time presses, the treatment of the more theoretical 
or more specialized major problems in Part Four may be curtailed 
in the light of the student objective. 


SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING 


In the pursuit of his reading in the wide field of education as de- 
picted in this text, the student has an almost unlimited choice. Be- 
fore proceeding to more specialized fields he will do well to acquaint 
himself with the educational classics and with the ideas contained 
in the following bibliography. These more modern books will 
often present views at variance with those contained in the text; 
but such conflict is to be welcomed. 


Bagley, W. C. The Educatwe Process. 

Bobbitt, F. The Curriculum. 
*Bode, B. H. Fundamentals of Education. 

Cubberley, E. P. Public School Administration. 

Cubberley, E. P. Public Education in the United States. 
*Dewey, J. Democracy and Education. 

Gesell, A. L. The Pre-School Child. 
*Henderson, E. N. Principles of Education. 

Hudson, J. W. The College and New America. 

Inglis, A. Principles of Secondary Education. 

Kilpatrick, W. H. Source Book in the Philosophy of Education. 
*MacVannel, J. A. Outline of a Course in the Philosophy of Educa- 

tron. 

McDougall, W. Social Psychology. 

Monroe, P. History of Education. 

Paulsen, F. Introduction to Philosophy. 

Snedden, D. Vocational Education. 
*Spencer, H. Education. 

Thorndike, E. L. Educational Psychology. 

Wallas, G. The Great Society. 

Ward, L. F. Dynamic Sociology. 

Watson, J. B. Psychology from the Stand point of a Behaviorist. 


For further readings and for more detailed guidance with 
reference to specific topics in education the student is di- 
rected to the excellent bibliographies contained in the texts 
of Henderson or MacVannel. 


*These texts give the more systematic treatment of Principles of Educa- 
tion. 


' 
TE IML 










Pe m ‘ x 
* ve 
u be i 
ae 
en *% ~s 
i Ke f 
‘Vi aaa \ 
meer ae tn 
lua ms £4 
if at s 
t 
: ‘ s 4 eu eA ; i , : 
; p , ' 
ad tb 4 ik ‘seni. “ty 4 us | 
‘ : / Rig! LE wee ere VG) ey i 
: « art, [ i 
alan ty Te Wi AHL: cca SHINS Mara 
ei? ath [ } i MY ban 4§' Pony is, iis 
‘ Nt 7 ; ra. -s ‘ 
i] 5 rs , i . . 
=T% ’ , . . it , em | hah uM uty v 
' is : J Vote! yt } Wh 27 ees eit} ds ae a 
r 5 \ rh > 1 ‘a. 
iQ  . ; \ i. i i N beg a 
, ‘ 4, PUAN AS } SPR ta ie Ly Se i 
a ' pees’ mS i f 
cs SVE ALIA aN CUE Rah a fo . 
On iy ; (; 
‘ vores). x ie obi 
i 5 
. ‘Vs 
Pha 
; ‘ . ’ 
; SA PMAAT Pie 
‘ | hs : 
d 4 y F 4 F 5 ‘ 4 
7. } . ‘ i nh) 
e4 
i ' ht) (ey 
' - ' i i 
; 19 RW We i ivi 
é 
ey pice vi many" 
. #4 i § | | ri 
" ‘we A] 4 en +s 
| wi aha haiti Ni ial 
i i i 1a é fh f 
et ’ 
. 
¢ P 2 \ +2 
y WF di act 7 j a * , 4 
i , } t 
*, hid te 7 ¥ 4 
b i 
q i 4 at 
i 7 ¢ 7 
4 = a 
y A | 
¥ . a/b +5) 
4 i és 
ae we) Ae ' ‘ , bi 
{ * a. i etd fl 4 i uy bi ‘ 
; : 
q ' ‘ , 7 47) 
. . , ae ~, « ? * M/ et 4 
ew re | » 2 7, « ve 174 pes vied / * * 
‘ ¥ ly ‘a a Ba a 
piney eae ho wat aL “es Ler i ,eyen “* pee Lye) whee cs 


(K * ad yo ago § ; ogi 
Pinan Minh es let NT uss a aol 9, hg 
| | ah eeoln 


nd bed lob Ler) . f halon 


INDEX 


Ability, recognition of differences in 
elementary school, 432. 

Abnormal behavior, 142. 

Abstract principles, how they derive 
force to modify behavior, 135. 

Activities, basic human, why they 
should be reflected in the elemen- 
tary school curriculum, 411; of 
present elementary school, 403; 
two sets constituting high-school 
program, 440; recreational, 298; 
values, 299; school, evaluation of, 
368; relationship to basic life inter- 
ests, 381. 

Adaptation, involves not only change 
in the individual, but attempts to 
change conditions, 4; mental and 
physical, 9; motivated by social 
impulses, 19. | 

Adjustment, the relation of educa- 
tion to, 83-12; not merely adapta- 
tion to environment, 3; education 
as a method, 3; true meaning, 4; 
biological and educational, 4, 9; 
not produced by environment, 8; 
as a function of an organism seek- 
ing its own ends, 8: range of, 9: 
necessary factors, 10; réle played 
by reflection, 20; how furthered by 
inborn tendencies, 57; relation of 
religion to, 331; educational, how 


necessitated by reproduction, 13; | 


man’s equipment for, 14. 
Agriculture, evolution of methods, 
237. 
Americanization, 306. 
Analysis, occupational, 536. 
Andree, Johann Valentin, Christi- 
anapolis, quoted, 573. 
Anticipation of approval, of actual 
society, as force in modifying be- 


Approval of society, as a force modi- 
fying behavior, 128, 129. 

Artificiality, of school environment, 
170. 

Arts, America’s contribution to, 316; 
reasons for limited achievement, 
317; significance of absence of ar- 
tistic creation, 318; possibilities for 
enriching the recreational life, 321. 

Association, aspect of instruction 
stressed by, 550; social, advan- 
tages of, 25. 

Attainment, standards in elemertary 
school, 429. 

Attitudes and appreciations, the ac- 
quirement of, 555. 


Behavior, how modified by experi- 
ence, 16; how complicated by inte- 
gration of habits, 19; how it reflects 
inner drives, 55; errors in interpret- 
ing, 59; the instinctive element in, 
64; complicating factors, 66; differ- 
ence between that of civilized man 
and that of savage, 71; how refined 
by language habits, 84; objective 
physiological theory, 87; rédle 
played by language, 89; how af- 
fected by conscious processes, 94; 
instinctive origin of, 125; how 
modified by material and social 
forces, 127; how motivated by be- 
lief in supernatural sanctions, 133; 
how modified by force of abstract 
principles, 135; to what extent 
rational, 138; abnormal, 142; 
value of concepts in studying, 152. 
See Conduct. 

Behaviorism as a methodology, 94; 
limitations as an educational phi- 
losophy, 97. 


havior, 128; of ideal society, 129; | Behaviorism and interactionism, de- 


a present satisfaction, 130. 


termination of choice between, 96. 


Application, aspect of instruction | Behaviorist, theory upon language 


stressed by, 551. 


and education, 91. 


634 


Biological adaptations, types illus- 
trated, 5. 

Biological adjustment, 4, 9. 

Biological inheritance, conservation 
by the family, 223-26. 

Birth rate, how affected by pro- 
longed guardianship, 169; prob- 
able effect on the biological in- 
heritance, 225. 

Browning, Robert, Bishop Blou- 
gram’s Apology, 130. 

Bryce, James, The American Com- 
monwealth, quoted, 342; Modern 
Democracies, quoted, 67, 266, 267, 
272. 


Candidates, methods of selecting for 
professional training as teachers, 
596. 

Capabilities, individual, schools 
should study diligently, 168. 

Capacity, differences in secondary 
school pupils, 471; why it should 
be recognized by curriculum of 
elementary school, 409. 

Care of children, application of sci- 
entific knowledge in, 227. 

Centralization of control, 623. 

Character, importance to teacher in 
fostering religious life, 362. 

Chesterton, G. K., Heretics, quoted, 
334. 

Children, care by parents, 226. 

Church, modified functions of, 312. 

Citizenship, the duties of, 281; uni- 
versal needs in the field, 462; 
world, requirements of, 290. 

Civic education, objectives in a 
democratic society, 276. 

Civic institutions, the function of, 
264. 

Civilization, effect upon conditions 
of healthful living, 200. 

Classifications, school, should be 
tentative, 168; of high-school 
pupils, 471. 

Cleveland Education Survey, 521, 526. 

Coffman, L. D., The Social Composi- 
tion of the Teaching Population, 
quoted, 575. 

College, the function of, 479-505; 


INDEX 


is it a selective institution, 479; 
classes of students, 480; respon- 
sibility for the intellectually medi- 
ocre, 480; selection and elimina- 
tion of students, 482; why four 
years of college, 485; the liberal 
arts, 485; responsibility for train- 
ing leaders, 487; how curriculum 
must reflect basic life activities, 
488; relation to vocational speciali- 
zation, 489; the elective system, 
489; specialization of knowledge, 
491; the instructor, 492; funda- 
mental weakness, 494; the integra- 
tion of knowledge, 496; synthetic 
courses at close of college period, 
497; social responsibility must be 
stressed, 498; differentiation of 
student body for instruction, 499; 
intellectual achievement, 500; ex- 
tra-curriculum activities, 502; serv- 
ice in education, 503-05; academic 
freedom in, 625. 

College domination, of secondary 

- school, 451. 

*“Commotional state,’’ 80. 

Communication, improved means, 
237. 

Community, why school must keep 
closely in touch, 425. 

Companionship, possibilities for en- 
riching the recreational life, 325. 

Compensation, theory of, 183; finan- 
cial, the teacher’s, 582, 591, 594. 

Competition, its demand upon hu- 
man energies, 303. 

Complex, the, defined, 143. 

Concepts, value in studying behavior, 
152. 

Conduct, McDougall’s description of 
various levels, 128; control at 
various stages, 131; religious 
ideals of, 338; how motivated by 
religion, 341; how stabilized by 
religion, 341. See Behavior. 

Conflict, four possibilities in recon- 
ciling, 146. 

Conscience, function of, 139. 

Consciousness, relation to instinct, 
63; social, broad development of, 
287. 


INDEX 


Conservation, of natura! resources, 
education in, 252. 

Consumption, education in wise and 
temperate methods, 249, 251. 

Content value, of a particular study, 
396. 

Continuity of life, how given by 
biological and educational adjust- 
ment, 9. 

Control of education, the guiding 
principle, 614; private enterprise, 
615, 621; public control, 616; 
politics, 617; limitations of ordi- 
nary citizen, 618; weaknesses of 
government, 619; restraints upon 
power of government, 621; cen- 
tralization, 623; freedom of the 
teacher, 624; attitude of society 
toward academic freedom, 625. 

Criteria, for judging worth of a 
school activity, 371; for selection 
of curriculum of elementary school, 
408; for selection of curriculum of 
extended secondary school, 455. 

Curriculum, how influenced by the 
task of encouraging reflection, 120; 
as a means of enriching recrea- 
tional life, 320; why expanded, 
370; how affected by activities of 
social life, 382; elementary school, 
405-10; secondary school, 440-43; 
college, 488; vocational, 535. 


Defects, physical, how general 
among American people, 198. 

Democracy, early faith in, 265; why 
it has fallen short of anticipations, 
268; the wider concepts, 274. 

Demonstration method of instruc- 
tion, the, 560. 

Dependence upon _ parents, 
period of, 160. 

Devotion, religious, significance of, 
344, 

Dewey, John, 46; Human Nature and 
Conduct, quoted, 69, 297; upon aim 
of education, 80; analysis of the 
act of thought, 105; upon thought 
process, 113. 

Differences, individual, in adaptiv- 
ity, 16; in habits and memories, 


the 


635 


19; how they condition education, 
174-90; universality of, 174; dis- 
tribution, 175; causes, 177; be- 
tween sexes, 178; between races, 
179; relative importance of hered- 
ity and environment, 180; in a 
single trait, 181; in combinations 
of traits, 182; necessity for rec- 
ognition in education, 185, 186: 
recognized by the school, 186; in 
selective education, 189; social 
significance, 190; a factor in selec- 
tion and conduct of school activ- 
ity, 374; should be recognized by 
curriculum of elementary school, 
410, 432. 

Direct action, rule in habit forma- 
tion, 83. 

Discipline, mental, theory of, 384— 
92. 


Discussional method of instruction, 
the, 558-60. | 

Disease, efforts to control, 197, 201, 
202. 

Distribution, of income, an impor- 
tant educational problem, 248; of 
individual differences, 176; of 
practice, rule in habit formation, 
82. 


Diversity of aim, essential in uni- 
versal education, 188. 

Docility, of the young, how it may be 
exploited by society, 169. 

Drake, Durant, Problems of Religion, 
quoted, 346. 

Dramatic method of instruction, the, 
562. 

Duplication, how school can avoid 
work of other agencies, 372. 


Economic education, defects in, 242; 
objective of an adequate program, 
243. 

Economic life, how it may be ordered 
and humanized by education, 
234-62; evolution of, 234-41; 
methods of manufacture, 236; 
methods of farming, 237; means of 
communication, 237; mechanical 
inventions, 238-41; education as a 
humanizing force, 254. 


636 


Education, the relation of adjust- 
ment to, 3-12; a method of adjust~ 
ment, 3; scope of, 7; range of ad- 
justment, 9; definition, 11; how 
dependent on infancy, 13; neces- 
sary because of certain properties 
of society, 23-35; necessary be- 
cause of growth of folk ways, 26; 
value in solving complex problems 
of scientific, intellectual, and social 
world, 33; in primitive society, 37; 
progress of, 37; how affected by 
development of language, 42; new 
and wider conception made neces- 
sary by growth of Great Society, 
44; foundations of a sound pro- 
gram, 50; how conditioned by 
original nature, 55-69; how condi- 
tioned by habit formation, 71-85; 
Dewey’s statement of aim, 80; 
how conditioned by language, 
87-98; how conditioned by reflec- 
tion, 99-121; the emergence of 
personality, 123-53; determina- 
tion of value of idealized figures, 
134; a measure of its success, 153; 
how conditioned by prolonged 
guardianship, 155-72; how condi- 
tioned by individual differences, 
174-80; necessity for recognition 
of each individual as unique, 185; 
diversity of aim essential, 188; 
how it may further health, 195- 
210; how it may promote the 
family life, 212-32; problem pre- 
sented by modern family life, 216; 
recognition of an evolving social 
order, 218; effect on economic life, 
234-62; how affected by economic 
changes, 241; defects in current 
economic practice, 242; an ade- 
quate economic program, 243; 
function in economic efficiency, 
247; wise and temperate market- 
ing and consumption of goods, 
249; individual differences in in- 
dustrial workmen, 259; how it may 
advance the civic life, 264-92; 
nature and purpose in civic life, 
271; how it may enrich the recrea-~ 
tional life, 294-828; how the 


INDEX 


school may enrich the recreational 
life, 320; how it may foster the 
religious life, 330-63; 1oaterials 
provided by basic life interests, 
379; the larger aims of, 564; a basic 
social responsibility, 601; support 
and control of, 601-27; two policies 
in support of, 603; public support, 
605; universal education, 606; se- 
lective education, 609; higher edu- 
cation, 610; free public education, 
612; taxation, 613, 614; guiding 
principle of control, 614; dangers 
of public control, 616; how inter- 
ests may be endangered by “‘poli- 
tics,” 617; by powerful minorities, 
617; by limitations of ordinary 
citizen, 618; by weaknesses of 
political state, 619; restraints on 
control by state, 621; attitude of 
educators toward private enter- 
prise, 621; toward centralization of 
control, 623; toward freedom of 
the teacher, 624; attitude of soci- 
ety toward academic freedom, 625; 
social purpose of, 626. See School, 
Elementary and Secondary. 

Education, adult, why it must be 
fostered by secondary school, 475. 

Education, — college, fundamental 
weakness of, 494. 

Education, formal, beginnings of, 39; 
for what ends established, 40. 

Education, general, why prerequisite 
to professional specialization, 517. 

Education, moral, how dependent on 
religion, 343. 

Education, public, how endangered 
by politics, 617; by powerful 
minorities, 617; by limitations of 
ordinary citizen, 618. 

Education, religious, program of, 
357; defects of current efforts, 358. 

Education, selective, support of, 
606-11. 

Education, universal, foreshadowed 
by initiation ceremony, 41; sup- 
port of, 606. 

Educational measurement move- 
ment, dangers of, 569. See Mea< 
surements. 


INDEX 


Elective system, the, 398; in college, 
489. 

Elementary school, function of, 
402-35; contribution to industrial 
training, 521. See School, Ele- 
mentary. 

Emotional states, those accompany- 
ing certain tendencies, 61. 

Emotions, réle of, 61. 

Emulation of ideal figures, value in 
education, 134. 

Environment, school, advantages of, 
46; artificial atmosphere of, 170. 
Environment and heredity, relative 
importance as cause of individual 

differences, 180. 

Equipment, physical, 15; how indi- 
viduals differ, 16. 

Errors in inference, Pearson’s analy- 
sis of causes, 107. 

Experience, behavior modified by, 16. 

Experiences, educational, classifica- 
tion of, 412; necessary in secon- 
dary school instruction, 467. 


Factory system, effect on economic 
life, 236. 

Faith, religious, 339; how it may 
unify personality, ‘345; why un- 
certain, 352. 

Family, réle in development of group 
life, 25; effect of prolonged in- 
fancy, 164; the basic social institu- 
tion, 212; how the function has 
changed, 213; primary functions 
at present time, 214; present trend, 
215; contact with the Great Soci- 
ety, 215; its opportunity to foster 
natural sex impulses, 219-23; 
equipment of parents for care of 
children, 226; the care of children, 
226-28; physical care of children, 
227; psychical care of children, 
228: effect of industrial revolution, 
ia bs 

Family life, how promoted by educa- 
tion, 212-32; causes of present- 
day changes, 216; the educational 
problem, 216; universal needs in 
the field, 460. 

Ferrero, G., Between the New World 


637 


and the Old, quoted, 239; Ancient 
Rome and Modern America, quoted, 
302, 303, 319. 

Fine arts, America’s contribution to, 
316; reasons for limited achieve- 
ment, 317; significance of absence 
of artistic creation, 318; possi- 
bilities for enriching the recrea- 
tional life, 321. 

Folk-life, American, 305, 319. 

Folk ways, growth makes education 
necessary, 26. 

Forces modifying behavior, 127, 128. 

Formal education, beginnings of, 39; 
how agencies have become differ- 
entiated, 45; advantages of, 46; 
dangers in, 47, 48. 

Formalism, religious, evils of, 349; 
how checked through education, 
Sule 

Freud, central hypothesis of, 143. 

Friction, significance in social life, 
QT. 

Frontier, influence on American life, 
307. 


Galton, Francis, Inquiries into the 
Human Faculty, quoted, 115. 

Garnett, J. C. M., Education and 
World Citizenship, quoted, 97. 

General motivation, rule in habit 
formation, 83. 

Generalization, aspect of enSteeehiOn 
stressed by, 551. 

Gifted students, special provision in 
high school, 472. 

Great Society, advantages of life in, 
30; a complex environment, 32; 
man’s need of versatility, 32; prob- 
lems of adjustment solved by edu- 
cation, 33; how growth has made 
necessary a new conception of edu- 
cation, 44; the school’s prepara- 
tion for citizenship in, 209; contact 
of family with, 215; the school’s 
encouragement of basic civic 
habits, 277; education for citizen- 
ship in, 290; why it presupposes 
disinterested intellectual leader- 
ship in college graduates, 503. 

Group life, a universal characteristic 


638 


of mankind, 23; why men live in 
groups, 24; survival value, 24; rdéle 
of family, 25; expansion of, 28; 
why it should be reflected by cur- 
riculum of elementary school, 4U9. 

Growth, study of, 161; its uniformity 
and continuity, 163. 

Guardianship, prolonged, how it con- 
ditions education, 155-72; effect in 
fostering social parasites, 168; ef- 
fect on birth rate, 169; direct evils 
of, 169. 


Habit, wide conception of, 72; popu- 

- lar notion of, 72. 

Habit and instinct, similarity in ef- 
fect on behavior, 81. 

Habit formation, mechanism of, 17; 
relation of memory, 18; how edu- 
cation is conditioned by, 71-85; 
how original instincts function, 74; 
how trial and error function, 75; 
function of old habits, 76; physi- 
ological basis of, 78; function of 
external situation, 80; general 
rules of control, 82; ethica] impli- 
cations, 84; as explanation of 
growth of the self, 125; in the de- 
velopment of the higher self, 136; 
“will power,’ 137; necessity of 
plasticity, 159; in promoting 
health, 206. 

Habit systems, integration of, 79; 
why individual is enslaved by, 
80. 

“Habit ways,’’ inertia of, 79. 

Habits, civic, the formation of, 277. 

Habits, integration of, 19. 

Habits, intellectual, 389-95; the ac- 
quirement of, 552. 

Habits, language, how they refine 
behavior, 84. 

Habits, new, forces resisting forma- 
tion of, 78. 

Habits, old, function in formation of 
new systems, 76. 

Harrison, Frederick, Autobiographic 
Memoirs, quoted, 355. 

Health habits, foundations laid in 
school, 167. 

Health, why it should be the first 


INDEX 


concern of education, 195; how it 
has been regarded by mankind, 
196; how it may be furthered by 
education, 195-210; responsibil- 
ities of the school in health promo- 
tion, 204; formation of health 
habits in school, 206; imparting 
health information in school, 207; 
developing health conscience in 
school, 208; school program, 209; 
universal needs in the field, 459. 

Helplessness, significance in human 
infant, 155, 157. 

Heredity and environment, relative 
importance as cause of individual 
differences, 180. 

Heritage, social, appreciation of, 
278; effect upon elementary educa- 
tion, 423. 

High school. See School, Secondary. 

History, value in training for world 
citizenship, 290. 

Human values, conflict with eco- 
nomic values, 255. 

Humanities, how they may be util- 
ized in fostering religious life, 359. 

Hygiene, sex, school program, 231. 


Ideal of conduct, how it may be con- 
trolled by the school, 133. 

“Ideal gallery,’ how determined by 
education, 134. 

Immigration, 306. 

Income, distribution of, 248. 

Individual, study of, 51; how ca- 
pacity controls selection and con- 
duct of school activity, 374. 

Individual differences, in physical 
equipment, 16; how they discour- 
age reflection, 119; the school’s 
recognition of, 167; how education 
is conditioned, 174-89; causes of, 
177; in secondary schoo] pupils, 
471; in college students, 499. 

Industrial training, contribution of 
the elementary school, 521; ad- 
ministrative difficulties of intro- 
ducing, 526. 

Industry, modern revolution in 
methods, 256; universal needs in 
the field, 461; how specialization 


INDEX 


has affected vocational education, 
522. 

Infancy, how education is dependent 
upon, 13; significance of helpless- 
ness in, 155, 157; survival value of, 
158; why period is being extended, 
159; effect upon stabilization of 
the family, 164; value of participa- 
tion in an activity, 165. 

Inference, why errors arise, 107. 

Inferiority complex, operation of, 
150. 

Informal education, inadequate in 
complex society, 38. 

Inheritance, biological, 6; conserva- 
tion by family, 223-26. 

Initiation ceremony, a foreshadow- 
ing of universal education, 41. 

Instinct, defined, 60; described and 
illustrated, 63; relation to con- 
sciousness, 63; réle overempha- 
sized, 69. 

Instinct-habit consolidation, 65. 

Instincts, how they function in habit 
formation, 74. 

Instruction, general aspects in pre- 
senting organized knowledge, 548; 
standards for judging, 565; meth- 
ods of, 540-70; religious, objec- 
tives of, 362. 

Instructor, college, the, 492-95. 

Integration, how it culminates in 
personality, 21. 

Intellectual growth, cessation of, 162. 

Intellectual powers, the more sig- 
nificant, 389. 

Intelligence, measurement of, 161. 
See Measurement. 

- Interactionist, theory of psychical 
and physical processes, 92; theory 
of conscious processes and their 
effect upon behavior, 95. 

Integration of habits, the, 19, 21. 

Ipterest, a factor in selection and 
conduct of school activity, 376; 
differences in high-school pupils, 
469; why it should be recognized 
by curriculum of elementary 
school, 410. 

Interest value, of a particular study, 
395. 


639 


Interests, human, why they should 
be reflected in activities of ele- 
mentary school, 416. 

Interpretation, religious, why lim- 
ited, 335; how varied, 336. 

Intolerance, religious, evils of, 347; 
how minimized by education, 
348. 

Inventions, effect on social life, 236— 
41; effect upon personality of 
workmen, 256. 


James, William, maxims in habit 
formation, 83; Psychology, quoted, 
84, 141; Varieties of Religious Ex~ 
perience, quoted, 334, 341. 

Junior college, the, 485. 

Junior high school, the, 454. 


Knowledge, tools of, acquisition in 
elementary school, 426; relative 
importance of, 427;~ attention 
given in high school, 468; inci- 
dentally acquired, 545. 


Labor, division of, 239. 

Laboratory method of instruction, 
the, 560. 

Language, how its development af- 
fected education, 42; how educa- 
tion is conditioned by, 87-98; réle 
played in behavior, 89. 

Language arts, in elementary school, 
427, 

Language habits, how they refine 
behavior, 84. 

Languages, place 
school, 472. 

Law and order, developing respect 
for, 281. 

Learning, processes of, 5. 

Lecture method, merits and de- 
merits of, 557. 

Leisure, the doctrine of, 257. 

Life, continuity of, 9; school’s part in 
promotion of public health, 209; 
the important activities of, 378. 

Lippmann, Walter, Public Opinion, 
quoted, 283, 306. 

Literature, possibilities for enriching 
the recreational life, 320. 


in secondary 


640 
Machinery, effect on social life, 236- 
Al 


Mann, Mary, life of Horace Mann, 
quoted, 589. 

Manufacture, evolution of processes, 
236. 

Marketing, education in methods, 
249. 

Marriage, education for, 232. 

Martineau, James, Hours of Thought, 
quoted, 351. 

McDougall, William, Social Psy- 
chology, quoted, 68, 127. 

Measurement, effect upon theory of 
recapitulation, 164. 

Measurement of products of instruc- 
tion, 567-70. 

Medical knowledge, effect upon indi- 
vidual health, 202. 

Memory, relation to habit forma- 
tion, 18. 

Mental growth, limits of, 162. 

Methods of instruction, 540~70; 
method and content, 541; need for 
study of methodology, 541; classi- 
fication of products of instruction, 
543; the acquirement of narrow 
skills, 543; acquirement of organ- 
ized knowledge, 546; how adjusted 
to different levels of instruction, 
547; preparation, 549; presenta- 
tion, 550; association, 550; gen- 
eralization, 551; application, 551; 
the acquirement of habits of study 
and thinking, 552; the problem as 
the vehicle for training in think- 
ing, 554; the acquirement of atti- 
tudes and appreciations, 555; 
major procedures of teaching, 556; 
the lecture, 557; discussion, 558; 
demonstration, 560; dramatic 
method, 562; standards for judg- 
ing instruction, 565; tangible re- 
sults, 566; measurement of prod- 
ucts, 567. 

Methodology in instruction, need for 
a study of, 541, 542. 

Modern civilization, characteristics 
of, 302. 

Modification, process of, 66. 

Modification of bebavior, through 


INDEX 


material and social forces, 127; 
through anticipation of rewards 
and punishments of nature, 128. 

Moral traits, difficulty of measure- 
ment, 163. 

Morals, relation with religion, 340. 

Motivation, human, the simplest 
picture of, 65. 

Nature, original, and education, 
55-69. 

Neurone, the, 78. 


Occupational differentiation, how it 
complicates vocational education, 
512. 

Opinion, public, power of, 284. 

Organism, human, properties that 
make education possible, 13-21; 
properties of, 15. 

Organized knowledge, methods con- 
trolling acquirement of, 546; gen- 
eral aspects of instruction, 548. 


Parenthood, education for, 232. 

Parker, Carleton H., The Casual 
Laborer and Other Essays, quoted, 
S17; 

Part-time education, in vocational 
training, 528. 

Peace, supreme value of, 291. 

Pearson, Karl, analysis of errors in 
inference, 107; Grammar of Sci- 
ence, quoted, 112. 

Personality, how integration cul- 
minates in, 21; emergence through 
education, 123-53; why it is com- 
plex, 140; meaning of the term, 
141; the workmen’s right to de- 
velop, 258; how unified by religious 
faith, 345. 

Phantasy, place in mental life, 
149. 


Physical defects, how general among 
American people, 198. 

Physical needs of children, family 
care of, 227. 

Physical training, an 
school activity, 167. 
Physiological basis of habit formas 

tion, 78. 


important 


INDEX 


641 


Physiological theory of behavior, ob- | Puritanism, influence on American 


jective, 87. 

Plasticity, marked by initial help- 
lessness, 155; defined, 157. 

Play, relation with work, 296. 


life, 307. 


Race, distinctions in intellectual 


traits, 179. 


Political institutions, the purpose of, | Rationalization, dangers of, 111, 138, 
147, 


264. 


Politics, attitude toward new ideas | Reaction, simple types, 


in, 286; a source of danger to best 

interests of education, 617. 
Ponsonby, Arthur, The Decline of 

Aristocracy, quoted, 326. 


11; emo- 
tional, 62; instinctive, 63. 

Reading, possibilities for enriching 
the recreational life, 322. 

Recapitulation, the theory of, 164. 


Preparation, aspect of instruction | Recreation, defined, 294; its place in 


stressed by, 549. 

Pre-professional education, issues in- 
volved in, 518. 

Presentation, aspect of instruction 
stressed by, 550. 

Primitive group, expansion of, 28. 

Primitive society, why informal edu- 
cation is adequate, 37. 

Private support of education, 603. 

Problems, the occasion of, 103; the 
solution of, 106; the vehicle for 
training in thinking. 554. See 
Reflection. 

Problems, civic, importance of pre- 
cise information, 282. 

Procedure value, of a particular 
study, 396, 397. 

Production, methods of increasing, 
243; causes of waste, 245. 

Professional education, issues 
volved in, 518. 

Professional specialization, 516; why 
general education is prerequisite 
to, 517. 

Profits, as a motivating principle in 
industry, 260. 

Progressive attitude, value in civic 
questions, 279. 

Projection, operation of the phenom- 
enon, 148. 

Psychical needs of children, family 
care of, 228. 

Psycho-analysis, 143. 

Public opinion, the school’s part in 
formulating, 284. 

Public support of education, 605-12. 

Punishments of nature, as a force 
modifying behavior, 128. 


in- 


life, 295; various activities, 298; 
educational program, 3801; psy- 
chological significance, 297; atti- 
tude of school, 300; status in 
American life, 308; commercializa~ 
tion of, 309; superficiality of, 311; 
need of close relation with other 
activities of life, 315; how it may 
be enriched through the conven- 
tional formal school curriculum, 
320; through literature, 320; 
through the fine arts, 321; through 
reading, 322; through science, 3233 
through extra-curriculum activ- 
ities, 324; changes in school pro- 
gram, 326, 327; universal needs in 
the field, 463. 

Recreational life, how it may be ens 
riched by education, 294-328. 

Reflection, part played in adjust- 
ment, 20; how education is condi- 
tioned by, 99; Binet’s statement of 
three characteristics, 100; adaptive 
significance of, 100; operation in 3 
concrete situation, 101; why soci- 
ety must cultivate the attitude in 
its members, 109; uses and abuses 
of, 110; can it be fostered, 113; 
how dependent upon intellectual 
fertility, 114; how dependent upon 
factual information, 114; how de- 
pendent on effectual auto-criti- 
cism, 116; how encouraged by the 
school, 117; how discouraged by 
the memoriter tradition of the 
school, 118; how discouraged by 
individual differences in the school 
group, 119; how discouraged by 


642 INDEX 


the dulling of curiosity in the 
teacher, 119; how encouragement 
in school influences the curriculum, 
120; how the school may encour- 
age, 120. 

Reflex, defined, 57. 

Reisner, E. H., Nationalism and Edu- 
cation since 1789, quoted, 620, 626, 
627. 

Religion, attitude toward new ideas 
in, 286; its relation to adjustment, 
331; defined, 334; leaders of, 337; 
relation with morals, 340; as a 
motive for conduct, 341; evils done 
in the name of, 346; universal 
needs in the field, 465. 

Repetition, rule in habit formation, 
82. 

Reproduction, process, effect in edu- 
cational adjustment, 13. 

Resources, natural, the conservation 
of, 252; exploitation of, 302. 

Response, fixed modes of, 6. 

Rewards of nature, as a force modify- 
ing behavior, 128. 

Robinson, J. H., The Mind in the 
Making, quoted, 279; The New 
Mstory, quoted, 280. 

Robinson, J. H. and Beard, C. A., 
The Development of Modern Eu- 
rope, quoted, 238. 

Rules in habit formation, general, 82, 
83. 

Rural life, recreational problem of, 
313. 

Russell, Bertrand, Proposed Roads 
to Freedom, quoted, 275; Free 
Thought, quoted, 285. 


Sanctions, supernatural, belief as 
motivation of behavior, 133. 

School, the, why established, 37-51; 
does it encourage reflection?, 117, 
118; a miniature reproduction of a 
socialized community, 153; should 
be articulated with community 
life, 166; artificial atmosphere of 
its environment, 170; necessity for 
articulation with life, 170; undue 
sacrifice of the present to the 
future, 172; individual differences 


compel diversity in objectives and 
methods, 186; responsibilities in 
the promotion of health, 204; the 
formation of health habits, 206; 
the imparting of health informa- 
tion, 207; the development of a 
health conscience, 208; preparing 
for citizenship in the Great Soci- 
ety, 209, 277; sex instruction, 229; 
encouragement in formation of 
basic civic habits, 277; developing 
appreciation of social heritage, 
278; ineuleating progressive civic 
attitude, 279; developing respect 
for orderly methods in civic affairs, 
281; imparting precise information 
on civic affairs, 282; cultivation of 
a scientific temper in the field of 
social relations, 285; developing 
broad social consciousness, 287; a 
factor in educating for world citi- 
zenship, 290; attitude toward rec- 
reation, 300; how it may enrich the 
recreational life, 320; changes that 
will promote recreational imter- 
ests, 326; as a community center 
for recreation, 328; how duplica- 
tion of work of other agencies can 
be avoided, 372; responsibility for 
training at the lower occupational 
levels, 520. 

School, elementary, the basic educa- 
tional institution, 402; activities 
of, 403; the curriculum and its re- 
form, 405-19;. vicarious experi- 
ences, 420; sociological touch 
with community, 425; acquisition 
of tools of knowledge, 426-32; de- 
termination of standards of attain- 
ment, 429; function of, 434; rela- 
tion to secondary school, 456. 

School, secondary, function of, 437- 
77; occupies a key position in the 
education of a people, 438; re- 
organization of the curriculum, 
439; the old tradition, 443; socially 
and intellectually selective educa- 
tion, 444; how universal education 
may be justified, 447; limits of, 
448; extension of, 450; evils of 
college domination, 451; how con- 


INDEX 


643 


flict with college should be re-| Social consciousness, broad develop- 


solved, 452; the junior high school, 
454; criteria for selection of cur- 
riculum, 455; what may be ex- 
pected from elementary school, 
456; basic function, 457; relation 
to health, 459; relation to family 
life, 460; relation to industry, 461; 
relation to citizenship, 462; rela- 
tion to recreation, 463; relation to 
religion, 465; the materials of in- 
struction, 466; the tools of knowl- 
edge, 468; differences in interest 
and vocational expectation, 469; 
provision for differences in ca- 
pacity of pupils, 471, 472; provision 
for the gifted student, 472; place 
of languages and abstract sciences, 
472; adult education, 475; func- 
tion in American society, 475. 

School environment, advantages of, 
46; principles of, 166. 

School spirit, how important in 
growth of religious life, 361. 

Science, possibilities for enriching 
the recreational life, 323; how it 
may be utilized in fostering re- 
ligious life, 360. 

Sciences, abstract, place in secondary 
school, 472. 

Secondary school, function of, 437- 
ile 

Selective principle, abandonment by 
high school, 446. 

Self, social, the origin of, 
growth of, 125. 

Self-motivation, rule in habit forma- 
tion, 83. 

Service, as a motivating principle in 
industry, 260; how the spirit can 
be injected into occupational life, 
537. 

Sex, distinctions 
traits, 178. 

Sex instruction, 229-32. 

Sex problem, in modern life, 219-23. 

Significance of infancy, 157. 

Situation, external, function in habit 
formation, 80. 

Skills, narrow, methods controlling 
acquirement, 543. 


124; 


in intellectual 


ment of, 287. 

Social heritage, developing apprecia- 
tion of, 278. 

Social infancy, why period is being 
extended, 159. 

Social instincts, as motives in adap- 
tation, 19. 

Social life, how complicated by 
modern problems, 270; the school’s 
articulation with, 369; a factor in 
selection of school activities, 378; 
effect of activities upon curricu- 
lum, 382; preparation by activ- 
ities of elementary school, 415. 

Social parasites, effect of prolonged 
guardianship, 168. 

Social] relations, scientific attitude 
toward, 285. 

Social self, origin of, 124; growth of, 
125. 

Social studies, importance in sec- 
ondary education, 467. 

Social traits, difficulty in measure- 
ment, 163. 

Society, properties that make educa- 
tion necessary, 23-35; advantages 
in, expansion, 30; primitive, in- 
formal education in, 37; study 
of, 51; attitude toward creative 
thought, 111; need of the reflective 
attitude in its members, 109; antic- 
ipation of approval by, 128, 129; 
education’s part in reconstructing, 
272, 273; function of secondary 
school, 475. 

Society and the individual, adjust- 
ments between, 8. 

Specialization, in industry, how it 
has affected vocational training, 
522, 523. 

Specialization, and college education, 
491, 

Specialization, professional, why 
general education is prerequisite, 
517. 

Spencer, Herbert, theory of natural 
punishment, 132; Education, 
quoted, 230. 

Stabilization of the family, effect of 
prolongation of infancy, 16+. 


644 


Standards for judging instruction, 
565. 

Standardized _ tests, 
plished by, 569. 

Strain and exhaustion, of modern 
life, 304. 

Support, of education, private, 603; 
public, 605. 

Synapse, the, 78. 


ends accom- 


Teacher, attitude toward subject 
matter of instruction, 119; how 
liable to exploit the docility of the 
young, 170; religion of, 338; posi- 
tion occupied in an ideal society, 
573; in American society, 574; how 
recruited, 581; financial remunera- 
tion, 582; opportunity for creative 
work, 584; freedom of thought and 
action, 585; social recognition, 
588; high professional sense, 589; 
financial compensation, 591; selec- 
tion of candidates, 596; training of 
teachers, 597; professional growth, 
598; part in controlling evolution 
of society, 598; freedom of, 624. 

Teaching, the major procedures of, 
556; professional status, 576-80; 
upon what dependent, 582-89. 

Tendencies, inborn, different in com- 
plexity, 57; difficult to catalogue, 
58; classification of, 59, 60. 

Thinking, creative, attitude of soci- 
ety, 111. 

Thinking, physiological and psy- 
chical, 90; the problem as a 
vehicle for training in, 554. 

Thought, the occasion of, 102; the 
process of, 104; Dewey’s “‘five 
logically distinct steps,’ 105. See 
Reflection. 

“Three R’s, the,’ position in the 
curriculum, 405. 

Tolerance, a needed attitude toward 
new ideas, 285. 

Training, of teachers, 597. 

Trait, single, individual differences 
in, 181; individual differences, in 
combinations, 182; distribution of, 
184. 

Transfer, of habits, 392-94. 


INDEX 


Transportation, improved means, 
937. 

Trial and error, how method func- 
tions in habit formation, 75; how 
evident even in higher forms of 
habit formation, 77. 

Truth, in social relations, attitude 
toward, 286. 


Types, theory of, 184. 


Universal education, foreshadowed 
by initiation ceremony, 41. 

Urban life, special recreational prob- 
lems, 314. 


Values, elevated sense important in 
school, 134; economic and human, 
255; of school study or activity, 
367-400. 

“Variation,” the term, 174. 

Variations. See Differences, indi- 
vidual. 

Versatility, human, the value of, 
oe. 

Vicarious participation, at elemen- 
tary school level, 420; at secondary 
school level, 467. 

Vocation, relation to growth of per- 
sonality, 259; meaning of, 509. 
Vocational education, current, in- 
adequacy of, 244; part-time educa- 
tion, 285; how complicated by oc- 
cupational differentiation, 512; 
conventional divisions of formal 
education, 513; classification on 
occupational levels, 514, 515; pro- 
fessional education, 516-20; the 
more urgent problems, 516; respon- 
sibility of the school for training 
at the lower occupational levels, 
520; how affected by specialization 
in industry, 522: should the school 
undertake training at the lower 
levels, 524, 525; administrative 
difficulties of introducing indus- 
trial training, 526; effect of changed 
economic status of woman, 530- 
35; how nature of a curriculum 
is determined, 535; occupational 
analysis, 536; the spirit of service, 

537. 


INDEX 645 


Vocational expectation, differences | Welton, J., The Psychology of Educa- 
in high-school pupils, 469. tion, quoted, 310. 

Vocational specialization, relation of | “ Will power,’ as a product of habit 
college, 489. formation, 137. 

Vocational training, necessity of,| Woman, changed economic status 
510; types of, 511; sociological| and its effect on vocational train~ 
conditions determining type pro-| ing, 530; dual réle within the 
vided, 512; why the scope has in- home, 531. 
creased in modern society, 516;| Work, traditional attitude toward, 
how affected by specialization in| 255; the doctrine of, 257; relation 


industry, 522. with play, 296. 
World citizenship, school education 
War, futility of, 291. for, 290. 


Waste, in production, causes of, 245; | Writing, influence of invention upon 
remedies, 246. education, 43. 


wegen 


Date Due © : 














Piet 
\ AS 
po 
i 7 


iw > 
i? lt 


ata 


ae 


Lt PAS pe a: 





ITY 


dope. 
*itites 


sistettity 


SEE Settle t 
eperstitirt tery 


education 


+ : 
stat rerrett bine 
Lhetrtetetbees tere >. ; 
\ weep te ert > + meats $4 
pase papeveesest) 


Aap hernihetee re > 
: anne eetet 
B tweet ti hetereses 
Petty bake ene 


itrhesetae : ' 
writes Peet seep esesesceeeneys 

+ . SRE bet tesreet 

; > 3 pares 


co 
bX i 
ep) 
ce) 
a 
ww 
> 
Ae 
© 
@N 
5 
© 
5 ee 
- 


LB875 .C46 
nciples of 


Pri 


Savueeenesease 
Pet IS 
eters 





